


Heads you live, tails you die

by vonfeist



Category: Domino (2005), The 100, The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bounty Hunters, Based on the movie domino, Bounty Hunters, Eventual Happy Ending, F/F, Girls with Guns, Gun Violence, Jealous Lexa, Protective Clarke, Recreational Drug Use, References to Drugs, Sassy Lexa, Sexism, Slow Build, Threats of Violence, close to script, unfortunately sexism as the movie uses it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2018-12-30 03:36:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 41,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12099849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vonfeist/pseuds/vonfeist
Summary: Indra, Bellamy,and the 4 fake IDs was where it all went wrong."I think that you're lying. I think you know exactly where the money is.", her voice sharp. Clarke raised an eyebrow at this display of superiority and imitated Anya's behaviour, leaning forward with crossed arms, looking Anya right into the eye. "I think you're trying to scare me into falsely incriminating myself, and it's not going to work."Adaption of the movie 'Domino', very likely to have a happy ending.





	1. The Fender compound

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, this is my first fic, so any feedback is very welcome.
> 
> Secondly, the first chapter jumps around between the interrogation and the actual scenes, I hope it's not too confusing. As for the beginning I will closely work to the script and later on diverge on some sort of different story line.

A small barely lit room, two chairs, one table. In it sits one suspect, barely held together with pain killers and bandages. The only source of light is coming from a small light bulb hanging above a strongly used table. At it sits a young woman, her long blond hair messy, the ends drained in red colour, supposedly by blood, her bottom lip split. Her blue eyes seem hollow, sad, while she stares at her nails under which dried blood has gathered. The last few hours had been a trip to hell and back and still, she had made it. Above everyone else she had made it, just to sit in this room.

Her name is Clarke Griffin. She is a bounty hunter.

For a moment she stares into nothingness, not ready to face reality. It only has been a few hours but it seems like a lifetime. To release some of the tension inside of her, she fishes out a slightly bend cigarette, her fingers only slightly trembling. Just as she is about to fiddle for a lighter, she sees one on the table. It takes her a moment to reach out for it, one moment too long as the dark black door of the room screeches open. In comes a tall, lanky woman with high cheekbones and cold eyes. She slides in, closes the door quietly behind herself and strides over to take a seat at the vacant chair.

Without hesitation she grabs the pencil on the desk, a sharpener and leans back, far too casually, and concentrates on sharpening. "Miss Griffin, my Name is Anya Forester. I'm a criminal psychologist working for the FBI. I'm here to ask you a few questions", she starts, looking up shortly, trying to make eye contact but her opponent doesn't look up from the lighter that lies on the table. "Whatever you say over the next several hours will determine whether or not you spend the rest of your life in prison."

Instead of answering the blonde reaches out for the lighter, not asking for permission and lights her cigarette, deliberately ignoring the quiet huff that comes from the FBI psychologist and takes a long drag. A sigh escapes her lips, relieved. This is the moment she is supposed to get defensive. She should ask for her attorney, making sure she won't incriminate herself before saying anything else but if the last few hours have taught her anything, it's that time should not be wasted, otherwise you might miss out on something important. Every pause she makes now, to prolong this torture, will possibly ensure that she won't see any of them again.

"I tell you everything I know.", she says lowly, finally looking over to Forester. The only reaction she gets is a raised eyebrow and a look that is trying to calculate if that's the truth or just a hoax. But Clarke doesn't seem to care, can't care, and takes another drag from her cigarette. It's Anya who disturbs the silence that has stretched between them. "36 hours ago, 10 million dollars were stolen from an armored car that was subsequently found abandoned at the Hoover Dam.", she makes a pause, putting down the sharpener and leans onto the table. "The driver's name was Roan Fender. We know that he was in on the heist."

Clarke moves her healthy arm down and leans it on the table, moving her whole body towards Anya, showing willingness to cooperate. The psychologist is looking at her, scrutinizing. The moment Clarke locks eyes with her, she wets her lips.

"Is it true that you were hired to track down and capture the thieves and then deliver them to Dante Wallace, owner of the Mountain, Hotel and Casino?", she asks, Clarke's answer is immediate. "Yes."

If Anya is surprised or shocked, she doesn't show it, just fiddles slightly with her pencil, before nodding. "You then learned where the thieves had hidden the money. And at the instructions of your employer, went to retrieve the money yourself."

Clarke breaks the eye-contact and looks to the side, only barely concealing a sigh. This was where all the shit had gone down.

"We were sent out to the Fender Compound...in the desert near the chicken ranch.", she starts, gathering the strength to live through all of it again. Before continuing she takes another drag from her cigarette, looks at it, as if it held all the truth before shaking her head, taps the ash of her cigarette and nods. 

_______

A dangerously looking RV with teeth drawn on it and small little heads attached to the windshield, wiggling in the wind, came to a stop at the Fender compound. In the vicinity of 50 miles was nothing but sand, a few houses here and there but it could barely be called civilized. So, the compound was the perfect hideout.

Inside of said vehicle sat seven people, only four of them voluntarily. As the door swung wide open, three of them jumped down the small stairs into the hot blazing sun. Their leader was a 7"4 inches talk men with a long beard, a tattooed face. Right behind followed two woman, one blonde, the other brunette.

________

"Gustus Moseby. I take it?", the FBI psychologist asks, once again sharpening her pencil, trying to show nonchalance even if that information is very valuable for her and she could barely wait for the story to end. She needs that information quickly but it seems that Clarke has no intention of cutting it short.

If anything, she seems to include every detail she can come up with. Unbeknownst to Anya, Clarke was indeed trying to answer every single question, every piece of information she could come up with. "Yes, the most legendary bounty hunter in all of Los Angeles. He's my boss, my mentor, the father I never had." She smiles softly at the memory of him. "Nobody really knows where Gus came from. This much is clear... the man's been places, seen things, lived life. He did a term in Soledad and a term in Angola, where he lost a toe during a prison riot."

________

In the distance a dog was barking loudly, probably being alerted by their intruding. As the group came closer to the small house, Gustus signaled them to surround it. "This way.", he said in a commanding manner to Clarke, leading her to the side door while the other woman - a brunette clad in a leather jacket - walked to the right. Once each of them had reached their destination, the booming voice of Gustus rang out of the walkie talkie all of them had attached to their vests. "All right, on my go. Watch your ass on this one."

It was quiet for a few seconds, the barking of the dog silenced by whatever force. But Clarke could feel the tension in the air, felt her skin crawling in anticipation of what was about to happen. As every job they had done together this could either end terribly wrong or work out in their favour. As per usual, she hoped for the best.

Once Gustus gave her a nod, she moved back a little, getting a safe stance before she heard the loud and clear 'Go' from Gustus. In a swift motion he ripped the door open, pulled his weapon down, ready to shoot. A moment later they heard the traitorous click of a weapon, then a shot, followed by a scream. Clarke and Gustus barely managed to back off to the side of the door before  the bullets rushed pass them.

It took a moment before silence enveloped them once again. As soon as that happened Gustus signaled Clarke to move in. She did as asked, move into the house to the first door and got down on her knees, holding up her hand in a fist to signal Gustus to wait.

Lexa who had moved into the house at the same time as Gustus and Clarke was currently perching behind a wall, weapon at the ready. Once Nia realized that her shots came to nothing, she pulled her dog over by the collar. As she did so her dog started to growl and bark, feeling the tension in the air. She leaned over the pitbull, pressing a kiss to its head and let go of the collar.

"Sic 'em, girl! Sic 'em!"

Without a second thought the dog charged towards the door, loudly growling.

Lexa took this moment to step out of her hiding place, firing two shots towards the dog, missing it by chance and ripping the floor open instead. The dog whimpered loudly, before escaping through the whole in a blink of an eye, only leaving behind the woman that screamed in agony. "Echo?"

With a loud puff and a muttered 'fuck' the brunette rushed back behind the safe wall, reloading her weapon.

_______

"So, who was she?", Anya asks, scribbling done specific information about what had happened. From her position Clarke could see the words 'Gustus' and 'compund' encircled. Not that she knew why Forester would focus on any of those things.

"That's my best friend. Her name is Lexa. She's always fancied me, but too shy to ever do anything about it.", she explains while biting her bottom lip, trying to suppress the feelings that try to overcome her. "I take it she was a bounty hunter, too?", Clarke nods, clearly not interested in telling more about her. "Yes."

________

"Echo! Echo...", the woman called once again, agony still present in her voice, a sob ripping through her body. “Nia, Echo is in doggie hell.”, Gustus' loud voice boomed through the house, without a trace of sympathy.

After nothing came in return, he growled lowly, still standing behind the door way in cover. “All we want is the money.”, he called out, trying to drive her into the corner. 

Now that a layer of silence engulfed them, Clarke took the time to inspect her surroundings, her eyes fell on the tv, showing an old movie from 1962. "The Manchurian Candidate, eh, Nia?" Apparently recognizing the voice that was speaking to her, Nia called out, “Is that you, Clarke?”, making her believe that they finally dissolved this strained atmosphere. “Nice to see you, darling.", she answered Nia, still holding tight to her weapon. If she had learned one thing about Nia, it was not to trust her. She had lost everything after her husband had died a few years back.

However, Nia wouldn't be herself if she wouldn't try to stir up some hatred. "Your father must be so proud of what's become of his little angel.” And even though Clarke had promised herself to relax, to be collected, she couldn’t help the anger that started to prickle in her veins once her father was mentioned by Nia. "Listen, bitch, we've got your son!", she called back, her voice dripping with anger, "If you don't give us the money, we're gonna wax his fucking ass!" Lexa barely suppressed a smile at Clarke's demeanor, her weak spot obvious. 

Though Clarke was obviously threatening Nia, the woman wasn't impressed. She just took a long swig from a bottle, probably whiskey before screaming back, matching Clarke's fury. "You don't have shit!"

Clarke sighed, made eye-contact with Lexa and nodded. But Gustus was faster than her. "Hey, Lexa.", he started, coughing before adding. "Show her."

Lexa didn't waste any time, moved from her cover over to the side and picked up something wrapped up in some sort of foil. She turned it in her hand for a second, shaking her head at the memory how it had happened before she threw it over to Nia in the kitchen.

Once it landed in front of Nia, everything fell silent. Right there, on the floor of the kitchen, was an arm, clearly showing tattoos that Nia recognized. Full of agony, Nia screamed, almost covering up the sounds of a shotgun being reloaded. With rage in her eyes, Nia jumped out of her cover, shooting right at Lexa who barely managed to get behind the wall once again.

________

"How did Roan Fender lose his arm?", Anya interrupts, her pencil hovering over the piece of paper. It had filled with information about their crew already but was still missing the important pieces.

"He had the combination to the safe tattooed on it."

________

Clarke, worried about Lexa's well-being, leaned out of her cover, screaming loudly over the sound of the shots. "He's still alive, Nia!" They heard a thumb, heard Nia crying before she broke out with a wavering voice.

"Prove it."

Gustus rubbed his temples, a loud sigh leaving his lips, before he locked eyes with Lexa and nodded. "Lexa, go get him." The brunette bounty hunter left her crouching position and stood up regally. With a swift motion the shotgun landed on her shoulder showing that Lexa was in no need to threaten Nia. Still, she backed out carefully out of the house, leaving behind the sobs they were still coming from Nia.

With confident strides she quickly walked over to their RV, knocking on the metal of the vehicle to announce her arrival. Once she ripped the door open, two of their occupants looked up with big, wide eyes. Their hands were currently handcuffed to a wardrobe that stood inside of the RV.

"We got to show Nia her son."

Their driver, Raven, was currently fishing noodles out of a china box with no care for the world. Completely ignoring Lexa's words. Being as tense as Lexa was her complete demeanour changed, totally aggregated she started to talk to her in Spanish.

_________

Without being prompted Clarke pauses, looking over to Anya. It was crucial that she told her who their driver was. It would have a wild influence on the following story.

"Our driver is called Raven. She's from Afghanistan. She likes shiny things and sometimes is too clever for her own good.", Anya looks up from her writing, raising her right eyebrow questioningly. Probably wondering why Clarke was even mentioning that. "And we can't understand how to pronounce her fucking name so we just call her Raven." The origin of this name stemmed out of the story where a Raven had stolen the sun. It seemed only fitting that their driver had gotten that name.

_________

Raven and Lexa had never gotten along, the reason something they never mentioned in front of anyone. So, both of them always loved to lash out against one another, even if only to aggravate the other.

This moment was no different, as Lexa repeated herself to Raven, said woman just looked over quickly to Lexa, before her attention flew back to the TV behind Lexa's head. "Did you not hear me?", she asked, once again, in Spanish. Raven took another bite from her food before Lexa leashed out and pushed the food out of Raven's hand. As if being whiplashed she pulled her head around to fully face Lexa. Her loud and clear answer just a bunch of insults in her own mother tongue.

"What does that mean?", another voice asked, only to be silenced by Raven. "Shut the fuck up!"

Lexa threw her hands in the air and walked to the back of the RV, mumbling "Joken, nomajocka.", before she stopped in front of Roan. The arm he had left was hanging in some handcuffs while his face and clothes where coloured in a deep red crimson. He surely had looked better at some point of this day but right now he seemed weak, barely conscious.

Lexa removed the handcuffs, pulled him up roughly and tugged him behind her. He stumbled, losing his footing once in a while but the brunette had no patience with him. Whenever he fell, she pulled him up roughly before pushing him to the house. This day had demanded too much from her already, emotionally and physically, and she just wanted to be over with it.

Once they entered the house, Nia jumped up from the floor, holding up the weapon directly towards Lexa but at the same time also at Roan.

"Mama! Mama!", he called loudly, desperately, no matter how tired he was. "Roan!", she called back, "Baby, I'm here!" Lexa took this moment to push Roan to his knees, reloading her shotgun and holding in close to Roan's head.

"Please", he said, "Please, you got to do as I say.", he spoke towards his mother, swallowing before continuing. "Now, the combination is on my arm." He looked over to where the foil wrapped arm was laying and shuddered slightly. Adrenaline was the only thing that was still keeping him up. It was a fucking wonder that he was alive at all.

In a much softer tone he proceeded to instruct Nia. "Mama, you got to get the decoder. Please, Mama." His voice sounded weak while he spoke, it was only a matter of time until he would pass out once again.

Nia could see the desperation in his eyes, could see the dried blood on his shirt and for a second all she wanted was revenge, just making Lexa pay for what she had done to her strong son. Now he was just a whimpering mess, nothing alike the strong and regal son she once had.

"Put your weapon down!", Clarke called loudly from her position. Lexa took the moment to press the weapon harder into Roan's temple. "Put it down, Mama!", he pleaded her once again. "Put your fucking weapon down!", Clarke repeated once again, her voice echoing through the house. Loud and clear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately no beta, so any mistakes are mine.
> 
> Hopefully the jump between Anya and the story wasn't too confusing, the next chapter should be without it. Also, for the right mood and setting of the film, I totally recommend the Domino Soundtrack, especially for the beginning Bounty Squad from Harry Gregson Williams or The Dagger Bailey with Am I really that bad.
> 
> Anyway, let me know what you think. Feedback is always highly appreciated.


	2. Bellamy and the IDs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes she wondered how she had ended up here, in this house, somewhere in the desert with a blood-spattered Winnebago and a one-armed man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No beta.

Her hair pulled back, wrinkled forehead, Nia sat in front of the safe that supposedly held the solution to the problem she found herself in. 

The arm of her son was lying on her lap, the tattoos on full display. In her hand she held the aforementioned decoder. It was nothing more than two paper plates that were held together by a screw.  Two notches showed, depending on the position of the paper plates to one another, a playing card symbol and a number. Currently it was showing spades and the number seven.  

Roan had assured that this would be the key to open the safe. But Nia was still struggling with it, spinning the two paper plates back and forth. 

Gustus was currently sitting in the bathroom, since quite some time he had – though Clarke didn't know why – an irritable bowel syndrome and whenever the hunt after bounties got to exciting he couldn't do anything else but surrender to his body. 

"You got 10 minutes to open that safe, Nia.", he called out to the kitchen. Not being impressed in the slightest, Nia just called back a loud 'Fuck you', her concentration not wavering. 

Next to her, Clarke was sitting on a chair, watching TV, making sure that the woman did what she was asked for. 

She had never killed anyone in her career and deep down she hoped that she never had to. Even if they deserved it. The only thing Clarke was supposed to do was to secure the bounty by all means necessary. Sometimes more than she anticipated.

   
Still, for her it was perfect, with this job she could have both. She could live the low life and avoid jail. She could live the nasty and not do time for it. As for that other world, that 90210 world, it wasn't for her. 

Gustus came back, sitting on the vacant spot next to Clarke. Quickly leaning forward, he grabbed the bottle standing on the table, shortly examining it, shrugged, before he took a sip from it.  

"Is that him? Is that your dad?", he asked, pointing the bottle towards the TV. Clarke's real dad had been an actor and unfortunately had died when she still was a little girl. She nodded.  

Gustus smiled. "Heh, I knew Frank." Looking over to Clarke with a smile. "Who didn't?", Nia interfered, not looking up from the padlock. It only earned her a scoff from Gustus who then checked his watch. "Hey, Nia...", he started, "You know what, sweetheart? You got, like, 7 minutes to open that goddam padlock or I'm gonna flush that fucking arm down the toilet." 

Nia contorted her face with pain before shaking her head. "Fucker." 

Clarke took that moment to silently take another sip from her beer. Sometimes she wondered how she had ended up here, in this house, somewhere in the desert with a blood-spattered Winnebago and a one-armed man. 

__________ 

The waiting room of the Department of Motor Vehicles in Los Angeles was filled to the brim. Everywhere people were sitting around on blue plastic chairs waiting for their number to be called. Amidst this crowd sat a young man, his long floppy hair hanging lowly in his face while he pressed a phone close to his ear. His name was Bellamy.  

One could see that he felt uncomfortable, sweating profusely, avoiding eye-contact with everyone around him. He was a college boy, easily classified as one of those from 90210 and he had just chosen the wrong place at the wrong time. 

"Hey, yeah, what's up?", he asked while nervously bouncing with his right leg. The caller seemed to be just as unsure as Bellamy was. 

"Um, look, I said, um,", unsure where to go with his train of thought, before a loud ding distracted him. "they're about to call my number, like, any second. Now, are you in, or are you out?"  

The business was an easy one. Bellamy was here to retrieve four fake driver licenses for his group of friends. They had planned a huge coup which involved them driving through the states. 

"OK. Make up your fucking mind, 'cause they're about to call my number.", he said to the caller again, one of his friends who still seemed to struggle with the idea of something illegal. "Right now, 'cause they're about to call my fucking number.", Bellamy repeated, quite annoyed. He looked up at the screen, displaying his number. "All right. We're on."   
   
He ended the call, breathed out audibly and put down his sunglasses, a poor attempt at appearing more collected than he actually was. Once another ping echoed through the room his number was finally called through the speakers. 

Bellamy got up from his chair and walked over to the counter. In front of him sat a dark-skinned woman with short hair. She seemed very collected and though her style tried to tell people that she was indeed one of the wealthy ones a closer look showed that this was not at all the case. Indra Rodriguez was struggling for money. 

"Hey um.", Bellamy nervous voice started, "Wells?", he asked, pretty unsure, still startling Indra. She looked up at the young boy and raised an eyebrow. 

"Um, Wells said that you could deliver the...the IDs tonight.", he added, still stuttering and sweating profusely. He then clumsily pulled a piece of paper out of his sweater and pushed it over to counter. 

Right that moment one of Indra's colleagues emerged from the side. Not noticing what was going on right now. "Indra... I need that web link. The J Lo concert is probably sold out already.", he said but Indra just held up her right finger, telling him to be quiet for a second. Nathan, her colleague, nodded and vanished behind the wall that was separating them, once again. 

"Wells don't make the rules.", Indra said calmly, looking up at the boy once again before concentrating on the documents before her. But it seemed like Bellamy wasn't taking any of it.  

"Listen, bitch.", he whisper-shouted, making sure nobody else heard him in the close vicinity. "I don't think you understand who the fuck you're dealing with here. OK? Because I could make your job disappear like that.", he snapped with his fingers to undermine his point, "Wells said tonight." It seemed like the adrenaline in Bellamy was kicking in, he wanted those driver licenses, he needed them, tonight. All of his friends were expecting him to deliver.  

Indra looked up at the black-haired boy, studied his face, trying to distinguish if he meant what he said or not. Though in the end she didn't have a choice at all. She needed this job, if anyone, even if it was a small college student like that, got her fired it would mean she couldn't pay for her daughter or her grandson.  

She opened the piece of paper, revealing four numbers with pictures. A sigh followed, almost inaudible. "Tonight, 8pm.", she said before looking up questioningly from her piece of paper. "Anything else?", she had to keep her professional demeanor, if anyone caught her being unfriendly or outright insulting to customers, it could be the end of her career at this center. 

Bellamy leaned back, a small smile forming on his lips. "Nope.", he said and it was apparent that all the stress, all the distraught suddenly fell away. "Good-bye, Bellamy." Indra wanted to get rid of him as quick as possible. "Good-bye, Indra." 

Bellamy's grin had now grin into a full-blown one, showing how proud he was about his success. He pulled his sunglasses back out of his pocket and put them one, sending another big grin over to Indra before turning and leaving the booth.  

Indra looked after him for a second before she pulled up a closed sign and set it on her counter. She had work to do and other customers would only distract her. She leaned back on her office chair, wobbling slightly, before she pulled out a pendant from underneath her top. It was heart-shaped and opened after little pressure was applied. Inside there were two pictures, one of Wells, her beloved son, and the other of her granddaughter Gaia. She looked at them, growling deeply. "Fuck 'em.", she mumbled and then closed the pendant, only to kiss it softly. "Fuck 'em all." 

Indra, Bellamy and the 4 fake IDs was where it all went wrong.   
   
_______ 

Back in the interrogation room Clarke was still facing Anya. The FBI psychologist looked at her face, studied it long. "Where's the money?", she asked but Clarke just scoffed and looked away.  

"I don’t know.", she answered, looking back up at the psychologist who was scribbling on her piece of paper once again.  

Right after she placed the pencil neatly next to the paper and leaned with her arms crossed on the table. "I think that you're lying. I think you know exactly where the money is.", her voice sharp. Clarke raised an eyebrow at this display of superiority and imitated Anya's behaviour, leaning forward with crossed arms, looking her right into the eye. "I think you're trying to scare me into falsely incriminating myself, and it's not going to work."  

Anya leaned back, obviously understanding that Clarke wasn't easy to win over. Not that she had assumed that, she was impressed actually by her display of strength but in the end if wouldn't help her. Nothing really would. "This is your last chance. Once I walk out that door, I can't help you." 

Clarke sighed, leaned back, facing away from Anya. When she had been a little girl, her father had told her that if she wasn't careful she would lose everything she had ever earned in life in a split second. She had to know when to cash out. And the moment had come.   
   
_______ 

One of the last days Clarke remembered with her dad was a day at the sea. He had promised her, after a long shooting for a movie, that they would finally have time to be together without being interrupted. Little did she know that this would be the last time he swirled her around on her back. 

The day had been rainy, as it was usual for England, but the funfair was still well-frequented. After they had spent the day eating candy floss and riding the big wheel, they came to a stop in front of a smaller parlour.  

The hero her dad was, he won her a small goldfish, one she called 'Sammy' and proudly presented to her mother which wasn't really surprised nor interested. She had never been. 

Clarke's father had then promised that they would spent lots of weekends together now, spending them in Brighton, near the sea because he needed the fresh air. 

A week later his lungs collapsed, he passed away. 

After that Clarke's mother had only one agenda, finding another husband with a boatload of cash. Given her looks it wasn't really a hard task to accomplish. 

As she had never had a connection with her only daughter, it wasn't surprising that Clarke ended up at boarding school. Her mother had far more important issues to attend to and Clarke just didn't fit into the picture anymore. 

One week after she had been at the boarding school, the last remembrance of her father passed away – Sammy died. For Clarke, being 10 years old, it was a pivotal moment in her life. At the very moment when she sent Sammy down the drain, she decided to never invest too much emotion in one thing. For her, it was always a set-up to the pain of losing them. 

 

______ 

In the early 00s Clarke's mother Abigail was obsessed with finding a new husband, preferably in the United States. Only recently she had found a strong obsession with the show 90210 spending day after day in front of the TV. 

Usually she would get up just to see interviews with the cast, dreaming of her life in Beverly Hills. And Abby, as determined as she was, managed to score big. She remarried to a man named Waldman. He invested in a restaurant called the Hard Rock Cafe. 

Clarke had just turned 19 years old, spending most of her time in clubs, being consumed by music and the free life when she decided she needed a change. Her life appeared boring to her, as if there was nothing exciting happening anymore. 

Under the pretense of being closer to her mother, Clarke finally moved to the States. Living somewhere in West Hollywood she had the best life one could ask for. But as per usual her expectations of life and the ones her mother had, didn’t match up. Her mother was hosting one cocktail party after another, expecting Clarke to be the perfect daughter she never had been. 

The relationship between the two of them broke apart even further, Clarke sauntering off to find other ways to occupy herself with. 

She tried going to high school again but she hated it. Though people wanted to befriend her, she stayed in the shadows, hating them all. Finally, being over with high school Clarke's mother convinced her to join college, even joining a sorority. It was all fun and games at first. Then the hazing started. 

The complete sorority stood in circles while all the girls looking different had to stand close to the stairs. The head of the sorority, a blonde girl, walked from one person to another, circling thick tighs or other places where the newbies were too fat and the sorority cheered for every single flaw pointed out. 

Clarke stood with the back to the railing of the stairs, staring at the blonde girl in front of her which held up her hand and looked up and down Clarke's body.    
"Look at these babylons...", she started, looking down to Clarke's breasts, before a grin overcame her face, "what's it like to look like a cow?", Clarke just looked at her, no emotion on her face, before she took a step forward, getting much closer to the face of the girl than necessary. "Did you get a nose job?" 

Scandalized the blonde shock her head, "No." And with that Clarke connected her fist with the nose of the girl, twice. A loud crack echoed through the house before all the girls around Clarke broke out in cheers.  

A week later, she was expelled. Clarke's mother had all but given up on her daughter, leaving her play with knives and weapons instead. It was by chance that Clarke found an advertisement in a newspaper, stating that they were looking for bounty hunters.   
________ 

The seminar took place in the halls of a small shabby theatre and was advertised as one of a kind. It would supposedly teach you the basics of becoming a professional bail agent. The main focus lay on the legendary bail bondsman Thelonius Jaha III. It all sounded dubious to begin with. 

  
But still, it was as good as anything and so Clarke decided to give her life the kind of kick she was desperately looking for. Clad in her leather jacket, a tight top underneath that barely covered her stomach, Clarke walked into the halls of the theatre. Her whole appearance meant to be provoking. 

Once she reached small reception, she scanned the desk, picked up a pen and began writing down her name in some sort of form, ignoring the clerk that was sitting behind the desk.   

"Na ai sis em yu?", the person behind the desk asked in a foreign language, prompting Clarke to look up and arch an eyebrow. For a moment they locked eyes before Clarke assumed what she had been asked. "I'm here for the bounty hunter seminar.", she explained, before leaning back down to write out her name. 

For a moment Clarke scribbled down on the faded piece of paper, not realizing that she was currently being examined. The eyes roamed further over her body only stopping short close to her breasts. "Naidit-nain dolas.", the voice said once again and Clarke, finally done writing, looked up and starred at the brunette in front of her. 

For a second she fell into her old pattern, ready to insult the woman but something about her made her stop. As blue and green stared into one another it seemed as if the brunette had enough. "Cash?", she asked and Clarke finally understood. 

She opened her back, rummaging through it for a few seconds before she handed the money over to the brunette. "Keep the change.", she said with a barely there smile before she ran off to the stairs, following the signs. 

The brunette took another moment to look after Clarke, clearly enjoying the view, before a small smile grazed her features.  

_______ 

After she had climbed up the stairs she reached a small room, barely 20 people were sitting in it, listening intently to Jaha who was currently pointing out what kind of task he had. He stood regally, waving around his glasses while he spoke. 

"See, as a bail bondsman, I'm the go-between for the court and the accused. For a 10% fee, I will guarantee the amount set by the court. Now...", he made a pause once Clarke entered the room, clearly appreciating the view, before he came back to his senses. He cleared his throat awkwardly and leaned a little heavier onto the podium, finally resuming his speech. 

"if the defendant should fail to appear at his or her court date, I will bring in a bounty hunter to recapture the defendant or I will face having to repay the court costs myself," he explained, pushing himself up with his elbows before making two steps to the side where a huge man with face-tattoos and a beard sat, smoking a cigarette carelessly. 

"which... we can't do. Now, this occurs most...", he explained further, stopping when Clarke had decided on taking a seat in the front row. The moment she leaned forward to sit down, Jaha sauntered back and instead walked around to the man sitting on the stage. 

Meanwhile Clarke got rid of her leather jacket, leaving her in a tight tank top which apparently attracted the men in the room even more than to begin with. Thelonius took the moment to rub his eyes, as if he would forget the image he had just seen and continued with his speech. 

"frequently when the collateral or the guarantee given to the bondsman turns out to be worthless or difficult to liquidate. So,... in layman's terms, we get 10% of the bail.", Clarke leaned down to her bag, pulled out a small notebook and a pen, scribbling down the information. The guys sitting behind her, seemed to take that as a sign to whistle lowly. "Now, in the next few moments", Thelonius started again, putting his hands on Gustus shoulders. "Gustus Moseby will take the podium, and he will begin the seminar on how to become a bounty hunter. In the meantime, feel free to take a coffee break, pee break, whatever. We'll be starting in the next few minutes." 

Thelonius looked over the crowd again, smiled at the women and men, only briefly looking over to Clarke before he nodded and received moderate cheers. With that the people in the room got up, leaving the room, probably to go to the bathroom. 

  
"Hey, how about it?", one of them asked Clarke from behind, "Want to ride some bounty hunter cock?" For whatever reason he seemed to be explicitly full of himself. Nothing Clarke couldn't work with. Full of patience she took out a cigarette, put it between her lips and lit it, before she addressed the man behind her – without turning around she said, "Fuck you, Dickhead." 

The dudes snickered a little, before they got up from their chairs. "Excuse the fuck out of us.", they mumbled, not brave enough to directly speak to Clarke.  

Once the men had disappeared Clarke looked around, realizing that everyone had left the room. So, she got up herself, grabbing her jacket and bag to go over to the bathroom. If she was lucky it was empty as the bigger fraction were men anyway. 

_________ 

Outside of the seminar room, the brunette had already gotten up and was currently putting the money in a small envelope. Gustus approached her with a soft smile before he took the envelope and pulled out a few hundred dollars to put them into another envelope. 

"We got to ditch this thing.", Gustus mumbled to the brunette, Lexa, without looking up. Lexa just shrugged slightly, they hadn't planned on staying anyway. Plus, they weren't in need of any more bounty hunters, so this was just for show, just to collect some money. 

Thelonius approached them a little later. "It has been a pleasure.", he said the moment Gustus held the envelope towards him. Right after he looked over to Lexa who looked questioningly at him. "All right, bathroom window, 5 minutes.", he instructed the brunette. "I'll keep the engine running." Lexa didn't react much, she just packed the yellow back with the lists and the cash box and sauntered over to the restrooms. 

She opened the door, checked for any occupants, before she got into one of the cabins. She opened the window on the side and accidentally triggered the alarm that was loudly resounding in the whole building. 

It was pure coincidence that Clarke open the door to the restrooms that moment and saw the brunette who tried to get through the far too small window. Instead on standing there and trying to stop the girl, she turned backwards and left the restroom to run towards the backdoor. She would not let them get away with her money. 

In the mean-time Lexa had managed to get out of the window. Lucky for her, she ended up on the fire escape staircases. She sighed loudly, she kind of had imagined that easier. 

To say that Lexa was the product of a broken home was to presume a home existed in the first place. No. Lexa never had a home. Well, not unless you counted 10 or so juvenile correction facilities, where she spent her childhood. 

So, for Lexa it was the easiest thing to grab the back, throw it over the railing and jump after it herself. She landed on her feet, only slightly stumbling backwards before Gus came to a stop next to her. In a rush Lexa got in the car, throwing the yellow bag into the back of it. 

The moment Gus pressed his feet down onto the pedal the backdoor sprung open and with it a raging Clarke Griffin. In shock he stopped the car, making him and Lexa almost hitting the windshield. "Spichen!", Lexa mumbled loudly almost ready to burst out of the car when a small dagger came flying towards them. Clarke, always someone to keep at least one weapon close to herself, had thrown the dagger in her rage. If random or desired wasn't clear but it had ripped right through the windshield. 

Gus got out of the car while Lexa mumbled "Nomajoka" and followed him suit. "What the fuck is this?", he grumbled darkly, looking between his windshield and Clarke. Clarke who was having none of it, her eyes were blazing and her body rigid. She was ready to fight. 

"Where the fuck are you going? Those people paid for a seminar!", she spat at them but Gustus wasn't really interested in whatever concern Clarke seemed to have. Not that she was the warrior of justice but it was her money, too.   
   
"Where do you get off fucking up my windshield?", he asked, ripping of the dagger from his shield and facing Clarke head on. Barely a few inches apart from one another, Clarke was not one to back down. Her voice was still loud and full of fury. "I want a job!" 

Gustus seemed to be surprised by the revelation and walked back a few steps, the dagger still in his hand. Lexa took the opportunity to walk toward the two of them, watching Clarke intensely. "Jesus fuckin' Christ, lady.Everybody wants a goddamn job." Gustus walked around, not like a predator but to assess who she really was. "What makes you think you can do this one, huh?", his voice was rough but also curious. If Clarke played her cards right she might have a chance. 

Thinking back of all the times she had been playing with her num-chuks, with the weapons her friends had shown her. If Gustus would ever see the stash of knives and guns she had in her small apartment, he would probably be surprised. "I've been training since I was 12. Knives, guns, throwing stars. You name it, I can fight with it. I'm a hard worker.", just to underline her words, her hand moved to the back of her pants, pulling out her num-chuks, she took a step backwards, swirling the weapons around. "I'm a hard worker. I'm fast to learn, and nothing scares me.I'm not afraid to die." 

Gustus voice failed him and so he just looked at Clarke, before he leaned backwards, sitting on the hood of his car. "Why would a...", he looked down Clarke's body. If appreciative or derogatory, Clarke didn't want to know. She hated the fact that he was pigeonholing her. "delicate little thing like you want to be a goddamn bounty hunter?", a grin on his lips. 

Clarke returned his smile with one of her own, only slightly being cocky when she said, "I want to have a little fun." 

Gustus scratched his cheek, looking over to Lexa who stared back at him. She wasn't sure what to think of all of this but Gus was the boss after all. "You want to have a little fun?", he parroted and Clarke just nodded at him. "Well, little girl, you want a job?", he asked while pushing himself from the hood of the car, only barely registering that "Yeah" Clarke answered him with, before putting his hand on her shoulder. He looked back to the car and pointed towards it. "It's gonna cost you a new windshield." 

Clarke just scoffed, she wouldn't mind paying for a windshield if that meant she could have a job as a bounty hunter. So, she leaned back on her right leg and looked up to Gustus. "You know what? Enough of that "little girl" shit. The name is Clarke.", she said, seizing Gustus up. Even if he was a huge man, barely afraid of anything, he liked that she had guts. Maybe it wouldn't be bad to have her in his team. "Clarke.", he repeated before he held out the hand with the dagger in it. Clarke grabbed it without breaking eye-contact with Gustus. "Clarke what?", he inquired further but Clarke just shook her head. "No, just Clarke."  

It was the first time that Gustus smiled genuinely at her when he turned around and walked to the car. "Let's take a ride.", he said over his shoulder, barely registering the smile that ghosted over Clarke's face.  

One who wasn't as pleased with the outcome as the other two was Lexa. She stood there, her brows furrowed while she looked back and forth between the two. "Chit?"  Without another word from any of them, Clarke got in the car, followed by Lexa who was still a little confused about this whole ordeal.  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations: 
> 
> Na ai sis em yu? - Can I help you?   
> Naidit-nain dolas - Ninety-nine dollars.   
> Spichen – Damn.   
> Nomajoka - Motherfucker   
> Chit – What? 
> 
> I hope they are correct, tried to be as close as possible to the meaning. According to the movie Lexa should speak Spanish but I couldn't pass up the opportunity of her speaking Trigedasleng instead.  
> Next chapter probably in October.


	3. Debut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That night, Clarke's coin was tossed. Heads, you live. Tails, you die. 50/50 chance. Life or death. 
> 
> Luckily her destiny was life. Life as a bounty hunter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As per usual: no beta.
> 
> Update schedule: A new chapter every Saturday.

A night in a shabby hotel room close to the interstate and a few hours of driving later, the trio finally reached their destination. It was a small neighbourhood, houses left and right, some of them with gardens, some not. 

As they got out of the car, Clarke looked around, getting accustomed to the area around them. She had never been here before, not that it mattered but still she was unable to compare every district to another, couldn't help but miss England. 

It was Gustus who broke her out of her reverie. In his left hand he held small note, unfolded it and scanned the words. "The kid's name is Hector Maldonado,19 years old.", he informed the other two. "His mother posted bail for him, after he was arrested for a drive-by."  

They had just reached the house they were looking for when Lexa began to speak. She hadn't uttered a word since they had left the alley a few hours ago. Gustus suspected that she was either too shy or too annoyed by the circumstances she found herself in. "Em don sad klin.", her voice sounding harsh around the vowels. 

Gustus just scoffed while reaching out to grab the railing of the stairs. "She speaks perfect fuckin' English. She just thinks it's cute when she's around a good-looking woman.", he informed Clarke, obviously being over it a long time ago, and climbed up the stairs. Clarke took the moment to look back to the brunette, giving her some sort of smile, not being entirely sure how to interpret her behaviour and looked back up to Gustus.  

"Chit yu gaf, Gostos?" The bulk man ignored the brunette purposefully, he knew how to get to her. They were doing this job for several years, had been a duo for three. Lexa was an open book for him, one he loved dearly. "Yo vout in dison ste leyos?", she followed up, "Chek emo au, lukot. " 

While Lexa still seemed to be a little pissed, Gustus took the lead and rang at the apartment they had just reached. He didn't give a flying shit about Lexa's behaviour, they had better things to do.  

Namely talking to the girlfriend of Hector who hopefully could inform them about his whereabouts.  

"Hey. Yeah, listen. Louise, listen, you can make this easy, or you can make it real complicated." Gustus reached into his pocket, pulling out a couple hundred bucks and flapped through them while looking over to Louise. In the end the woman wasn't hard to come by. For 200 dollar she told them where Hector was. According to her he was at the local gangbanger hangout across the street. 

 

Now it was time to prepare for their meeting with Hector, so they returned to the car, Lexa walked in the front of them, apparently still pissed about the fact that Clarke was suddenly joining the team. She saw no need in recruiting another woman for the team, not that she felt threatened by Clarke in any way. She just felt they were as good as they were. There was no need for change. 

"What's her problem?", Clarke asked, as Lexa stormed to the car, threw her jacket through the open car window, opened the door and got into it. "Petulance. Hold on. Give me a minute with her.", Gus said and walked around the car himself.  

Clarke, not being sure what to do with herself, leaned against the hood of the car, involuntarily listening to the conversation of the two. 

"All right, come on, princess, spit it out.", the bulk man said, some sort of softness in his tone. "Why do we need that bitch on the team? You don't like what I'm doing?", she asked, pushing her hair back restlessly. Gus raised his eyebrow at her, ready to answer when Clarke's voice rang through open window. "I can hear you."   
 

"Gyon au jok yu.", came the reply a second later. Shocked by the words, even if she did not understand them - the tone said it all - she just stared at Lexa. Gustus, the mediator between the two, pushed Lexa back into the seat and looked over to Clarke. 

"Hey, baby, why don't you take a walk and let me handle this?", his voice sounded concerned but that didn't change the fact that Clarke felt, once again, objectified. She sighed, deciding that this wasn't the right time to confront him, and pushed herself of the hood. Slowly she walked over to a lantern and leaned casually against it. 

Meanwhile in the car, Gustus did his best to deescalate this whole situation. "First, she ain't on the team yet. OK?", Lexa scoffed, clearly not believing whatever Gustus said. "Second of all, take a look at her. I mean, come on, she ain't ugly." Gustus was playing with Lexa, so much was clear. He had seen the attraction the brunette had towards Clarke the moment he had laid eyes on them.  

Lexa, still being aggravated, looked to the side, studying Clarke's face, her wavy blonde her, the perfect curves. When she looked back over to Gustus, the old man was already grinning at her knowingly. "You and I walk down the street, what do people see?", Gustus started, hoping to finally convince Lexa. "A couple of losers, right? We add her to the equation, you know what people are gonna think?", Lexa who had started to look down - probably overthinking her stance on the matter, looked over to Gustus.  

"What?", she prompted and Gustus grinned at her, broad and cheeky. "There goes two of the coolest motherfuckers who ever lived. Hmm?", Gustus studied Lexa face who just looked back again. She shook her head, not believing what he had just said. "You know what? I don't know about you, man, but...I'm already a cool motherfucker, you know?", the words were sarcastic and low, Lexa surely was convinced even if it seemed otherwise.  

Being over with this conversation, she pushed the door of the car open and left a muttering Gustus behind. "Sometimes you got your own tongue up your ass." 

_______ 

 

Clarke looked up the moment Lexa left the car, their eyes met for a brief second, clearly showing some sort of challenge in Lexa's green eyes. It startled Clarke. The last few hours all she had gotten were glances, short and sneaky but now Lexa looked at her head on. The blonde couldn't help the smile that grew on her lips. "Calmed down?", she asked, slightly raising an eyebrow, testing Lexa. 

The brunette held her head higher, straightened her back and for the first time since Clarke had known her, her voice was playful. "Shof op." 

Clarke shook her head slightly and smiled to herself. She then walked over to the car where Gustus had opened the trunk. He rummaged through it before throwing a jacket towards Clarke, somewhat military. 

She didn't waste any time and put it on, only slightly watching Lexa who did the same. The moment Gustus pulled out a shotgun from the trunk, she felt her heartbeat quicken, her blood coursing quickly through her veins. "Merry Christmas. Did you ever use one of these?" His voice rough but still a smile on his face. 

Clarke nodded, loaded the gun and held it comfortably. "Ever heard of the Beverly Hills Gun Club?" 

Shotgun in hand, they all moved towards the gangbanger hangout. They knew nothing about the venue, could only wonder if there was heavy firepower on the other side or not. "Clarke, you cover the side.", he instructed, moving to the other side of the door. "Lexa, you cover the rear." The shotgun pulled straight up to her head, Clarke leaned against the wall. "On my word." 

On the other side of the neighbourhood, Hector stormed out of the door. Apparently, Louise had set them up. Turned out Clarke's first raid was to be a near-disaster. As it seemed Hector had called ahead, warning his friends about the three bounty hunters that were currently surrounding his house. "Hurry! There's 3 po-pos out front! They're gonna kick in you front door." 

Clarke stood, sweating profusely, holding her breath, in front of the side door. Her blood was pumping loudly through her veins, making it almost impossible to hear anything else. The moment the walkie talkie echoed a "Go.", Clarke turned to the side and kicked the door open.  

Gustus and Lexa did the same, only to be faced with pistols right in their faces. It was a stand-off, whoever got more scared or had enough balls would shoot first and spell the doom of the others. 

Clarke's breath hitched, being faced by all those weapons, sweat pearled down her face. Everyone else in the room screamed at the other to put the god-damn weapon down. Even Lexa was talking loudly, swearing, hoping to deescalate. Gustus stood there rigid, his breathing slow, his eyes calculating. 

That night, Clarke's coin was tossed. Heads, you live. Tails, you die. 50/50 chance. Life or death.  

Luckily her destiny was life. Life as a bounty hunter. 

She took a deep breath, bit her lip and dropped the weapon. Lexa's eyes widened from the other side of the room, worry written on her face. She may not like Clarke openly but it was still another person in danger. 

Clarke didn't let herself being distracted, instead she walked towards the biggest guy in the room and stopped in front of him, her gaze not leaving his. "What the fuck you doin', bitch?! Step back, motherfucker!", he threatened, still pointing his weapon towards Clarke's face. "What the fuck you want?" 

Clarke knew that she only had one chance, one to convince everyone in the room to let them live. She looked down for a second, reached her hand out to the ashtray and picked up an almost smoked joint. She put it between her lips, took a drag before cocking her head to the side. She hoped it showed that they were indeed safe. Cops wouldn't smoke pot in front of gangsters. Plus, it helped Clarke to calm down her nerves. "We're not cops. We're bounty hunters. All we want is Hector."  

"Fuck you and the fuckin' po-pos, bitch!" His voice was loud, booming, clearly showing how nervous he was to be in this situation. But Clarke just followed through, followed what her mind came up with. "You tell me where he is, and I'll give you...", she trailed off, hoping for him to fall into the trap. He did. "You'll what?" 

Clarke breathed out the smoke towards the huge guy in a tantalizing manner. Her right hand pulled down her jacket a little bit, exposing the strap of her bra. "I'll give you a lap dance." The guy, still holding his weapon, growled. "Man, fuck you, bitch!"  

Clarke though was not deterred. She licked her lips and took another step closer to him. "I'll give you a lap dance, bra and panties on.", she extended her offer, hoping he would finally give in. But he didn't. "Man, if I wanted all that, I'd go to a strip joint, motherfucker." 

  
If she was being honest, Clarke had never seen herself standing in a crowd of men, offering up her body to solve a situation. She hated it. If she had a chance, and not five weapons pointing towards her crew, she would have reacted differently. But maybe, for once, her good looks were the only thing to help her. "Come on, you and me. You know you want it."  

For a second everything was silent, apart from the heavy breathing. The guys exchanged glances, seeming to consider. "Hey, what do you think, dawg?", one of the guys was addressed, lowered his gun and roamed his eyes over Clarke's body.  

Next to him, Lexa glowered, presumably assessing if she could take him down. "I want to see what the fuck this bitch is workin' with."  

With raised eyebrows she slightly shook her head. "I'm offering it to you, baby. Come on." She was outright flirting with this guy now and it had the desired effect. "Is that right?", his lips formed into a grin while he lowered the gun. "Well, take off your clothes, bitch." 

The corner of her lips twitched slightly before she took another drag from the joint still in her hand. She then leaned down to put it back on the ashtray. When she got back up, she removed her military jacket with a swift movement. "Sit down." And as if a spell was being broken, everyone lowered their weapons. It clattered and clonked around them, the crowd completely focussed on Clarke. They cheered when she moved the top over her head, cheered when she finally stood there in a bra and panties.  

 Lexa was the only one who stood in the corner, her arms folded, reserved, annoyed by Clarke's antics. Still it worked. They got the scoop on how to find Hector. 2 weeks later, they nailed him.   
 

________ 

 

Thelonius was Charlie to his three Angels. He took care of the fact that they had a job in the first place. Sometimes nothing happened at all while other time they didn't know what to do first.  

Today it was Clarke's time to understand the mechanics of this whole system.   

They had gathered in his small office for this occasion. Clarke who had held her ground at her first mission had been granted a place in the team. From now on they would be an inseparable trio, ready to hunt down anyone Thelonius threw at them. 

While Gustus walked restlessly through the room, searching for files, information about their new verdict. Clarke had sat down on a desk, closely next to her sat Lexa. Apparently, she seemed Clarke a worthy opponent after she had seen her the day before. For no apparent reason at all, she also seemed oddly protective of her, staying close, keeping an eye out for her. 

On their way to the office she had even lashed out on Gustus for objectifying Clarke. It had not ended well. Clarke being annoyed because she felt no need to be protected and Gustus mad at the harsh behaviour on the whole. It was weird, their dynamic. Not yet sculpted properly. 

"It's very simple. The, um...DMV is the de facto conduit for all humanity, and every human being that we track down has a record in the DMV database. Uh, whether it be LAPD, Social Services, the Credit Bureau, or the FBI, they all use the DMV's database as their hub." The DMV was the department of motor vehicles. A place at which every person had some sort of record. "So, we have people on the inside who feed us the information."    

Gustus came to a stop next to Thelonius, leaned against the desk and lit himself a cigarette, all the while Thelonius concentrated on finding the file Gustus seemed to be looking for. Once he had found it, he pushed it over to Gustus. "This one right there." 

Gustus took a lot at the file and whistled. "Oh, shit. And who would know it?", he said, looking up to Thelonius before he glanced over to Clarke and Lexa. "The gatekeepers of humanity turn out to be a bunch of sassy women."  

Lexa took the moment to lean closer to Clarke, her hair falling over her shoulder. "Em ses op ogeda daun emo.", she said in a whisper, her eyes gleaming with mirth. Clarke looked at her for a second, wondering what she just said and was about to lean over when Thelonius spoke once again.  

"Excuse me?" Gustus hid his grin behind the files and cleared his throat before he put them down. "She said she liked your suit." Lexa looked over to Gustus, the mirth still in her eyes. "Tell him what you said.", Gustus encouraged her and Lexa obliged. "I like your suit." 

Though Thelonius didn't seem like he believed any of it, continued his monologue about the importance of inside people while Clarke had all but lost her concentration and just sneaked glances at Lexa.  

She leaned over, very close to Lexa's ear. "What did you...?", she asked, leaning back when Lexa hushed her.  

She just shook her head and winked before she got up from her seat. Leaving Clarke to look after her. It seemed like the brunette had no intention of answering that.  

_________ 

 

The next few weeks passed in a blur. Searching defendants, driving through California, spending nights in hotel rooms. Clarke had never felt freer, her life was like a rollercoaster, going up and down, circling, looping, sometimes bottoming out just to rise up again. Clarke loved it. 

At first, they had spent the time in the same hotel rooms, talking, getting to know each other. Even Lexa made some attempts to talk to Clarke but mostly it was just Gustus and Clarke. The old man took care of her, his behaviour changing from light-minded to deep care. He learned about Clarke's father, about the rage, the sadness that had lived in her, about her mother who had never understood her while Gustus mentioned his life, the war, the loss. Lexa always listening in, never participating. 

It was pretty much like today. After spending two weeks on the road, all their clothes were stained with blood, sweat or on occasion alcohol. And even if their job was dodgy, that did not mean they had to smell like it.  

Clarke had thrown all her clothes into one of the washing machines and had then jumped up on another, cross-legged. Gustus, always a ciggy between his lips, was currently loading another. Outside of this shady looking laundry, called Thrifty Wash, a dark SUV was parked. Little did they know that the FBI liked to keep tabs on bounty hunters, tracking everything they did.   
   
"Gus, what did you do before you were a bounty hunter?", the tall man took a drag from his cigarette and blew out the smoke, before he started to rummage through his pants, pulling out some pence. "I played music. I was a musician." Though Gus did have the appearance of a rocker, of someone who drove a motorcycle down the interstate and played in shady bars, it seemed somewhat absurd, knowing how he behaved now. "Really? What, in a band?" 

"Did you ever hear of Stevie Ray Vaughan?" Clarke looked at Gustus full of surprise, only a hint of doubt. "Wait, you're shitting me." The huge man bellowed a laugh and shook his head. "Nah, Stevie and I hooked up in Austin." He pushed the coin into the slit of the washing machine and turned around to Clarke. "Back in the day, we did the bus tour thing together. Played every goddamn small club that would have us.", he supported himself with his right arm against the washing machine, clearly being lost in his memory. 

On the other side of the room, Lexa was sorting through her clothes and throwing them into the machine. Once she was done, she looked down at herself, sniffing her clothes, wrinkled her nose and pulled the shirt above her head. All the while Clarke sneaked glances at her.   

"Yep. Me and that boy, we tore it up." Clarke, feeling caught when Gus continued talking, looked over to him, only to realize that he was still staring at the floor. "Holy shit.", she mumbled and Gus finally looked up. "Played with Pat Benatar, but that was only when I needed cash.", he walked over, grinning at her. She didn't believe him one bit. "Oh, fuck off. I love Pat Benatar." 

His grin deepened when he came to a stop in front of Clarke. "Hey... So, did I. But that's another story." He lowered his voice, still keeping eye-contact with Clarke. "Love is a battlefield, baby."   
Clarke laughed at his antics and shook her head, only quickly looking over to Lexa whose face was hidden behind her brown mane, it looked wild, magnificent. Clarke could not deny that she would love to run her hands through it. 

She had just proceeded to shuffle out of her pants when Gustus caught Clarke staring. The blonde cleared her throat, her ears burning red. "What about Lexa? How did you meet her?", she diverted the attention to another topic.  

Gus grinned knowingly and looked over to the brunette. He seemed to see her as a sister, not at all being attracted to her.  

"I met Lexa on the street...", he crossed his arms, looking over to her, fondly. "a few hours after she got out of lockup. She was standing there in a pair of those jailhouse slippers." Gustus shook his head, smiling. "She didn't have a nickel in her pocket or a place to sleep. We started talking, and I liked the kid. Like a little sister.You know?" 

All the while Gustus was talking, Clarke watched Lexa. Only clad in bra and boxer shorts Clarke had a perfect view of Lexa's body, her abs, her biceps which were flexing when she put up her hair in a ponytail.  

"Worst thing in the world is to be caged up. That girl has been there, and she ain't never goin' back." Gustus looked over from Lexa back to Clarke. "Even if it costs her her life."  

He saw how she was looking over to the brunette, grinned slightly and gave her a small pat against her shoulder. "What you lookin' at, darlin'?" Clarke's eyes snapped over to Gustus, heat spreading over her face, colouring her cheeks in a slight red tone. "Nothing!"   
   
__________ 

 

The first time Clarke had realized how true Gustus words were, had been in a dangerous situation, much like their first coup. They were standing around a guy who had raised his weapon at them, shouting loudly for him to put the weapon down, now. 

Clarke's shotgun at the ready, Lexa just stood there in front of this guy who was frantically reloading his gun, holding it right into Lexa's face. The brunette just stood in front of him, talking in her language to him while she held her hands up in a not threatening manner. 

And while the voices got louder and their defendant talked himself into rage, Lexa just smiled, looked at him and fucking smiled. Without any effort she talked him into submission. Her voice strong, effortless.  

As Clarke had found out Lexa had grown up on the streets of Venezuela. Rumour has it she stabbed another kid in the eyeball with a pencil. There were wires crossed somewhere in her soul, that much was sure.  

Regally and without a care for the world, she leaned forward, pointing one finger towards the barrel of the weapon. With a grin on her face, she pushed her finger into it, still grinning at her opponent while moving her finger back and forth. The guy, totally shocked and utterly overwhelmed, lowered his defence and a second later Lexa changed her grip, pulled the weapon down and pushed the defendant on the floor. 

She looked down on him, calculating before she threw the weapon to the side. Gustus just nodded approvingly and moved back from the scene, leaving an utterly confused and turned on Clarke behind.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gyon au jok yu - Go fuck yourself. 
> 
> Em don sad klin. - He made his choice.  
> Chit yu gaf, Gostos? - What is it, Gustus?  
> Yo vout in dison ste leyos? - You think this is funny?  
> Chek emo au, lukot. – Look at me, mate. 
> 
> Em ses op ogeda daun emo. - He slept with all of them.


	4. Love is weakness.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was the beginning of the end.

It was a night after they had successfully captured another defendant when the crew decided to have a night out. Gustus, never one to back down from visiting a small bar, was the first to agree to it. Lexa, the ever-brooding woman, had just nodded when Clarke had asked her. Still not very talkative in any way.  

Like any bar close to the highway, one Clarke didn't think was reality until she lived here, the bar was full with shady figures and featured a riding bull in the corner. It was a dive, at best, dimly lit, giving them some false sense of security. 

Coincidence or not, Gustus got intercepted on his second way to the bar by a small brunette woman who pulled him over to the bar, talking animatedly. His loud bellowing laugh filled the room frequently. And made Clarke and Lexa smile. 

But it also left them behind, having no choice but to wait, glancing at one another occasionally. Sometimes it felt like an invisible wall was in-between them, neither able to break through it.  

"Souda. Kos we na ste set raun." Lexa's voice was quiet, almost too quiet for this loud place but Clarke heard her nonetheless. "What?", she looked at the brunette questioningly and only seemed to understand once Lexa held up her whiskey glass. She smiled, an actual, genuine smile. "Cheers?", Clarke tried, a smile on her lips as well. "Souda.", Lexa repeated and they clinked glasses. 

"So," Clarke raised the glass to her lips, looking over the rim to Lexa. "you think I'm good-looking, hm?" She took a sip, only slightly shuddering when the liquid burned down her throat. Lexa's cheeked turned a light red, thankfully hidden by the dimly lit table. "Why would you think that?", she answered, deflecting. 

Clarke loved the way Lexa's voice curled around vowels and words that weren't in her native tongue, harsh on some, velvet on others. "Well, you never speak English with me.", Clarke challenged, not breaking eye-contact. "And Gustus said..." 

Lexa's eyebrows shot up, remembering the time Gustus had outed her before she collected herself and leaned her head to the side, a smirk playing at the corner of her lips. "Well, I do now." 

Intrigued Clarke leaned forward, her forearms as support. "Oh, so you are a smartass." Lexa's smirk deepened, her right hand swirling the whiskey glass around. "Am not.", Lexa answered. "Okay, 'not smartass'", Clarke started, a broad smile on her lips, "tell me about yourself. I can't always quiz Gustus about you."  

"Well, technically you can.", Lexa looked at her at some kind of mischief before she looked down at her glass, sobering up. "I mean, you already know I'm from Venezuela." Though Lexa had deflected all of the conversations Clarke had come up with, it seemed like she was ready to talk now. At least a little bit. "Yes, how come you are in California now?" 

Lexa licked her lips, shrugged. "Just happened, I had no life back there. Nobody to rely on. My parents died early on, so I had to learn to live on the streets and one day when they just let me out of jail, Gustus found me. He'd been on vacation after his services. I was 16." 

Clarke nodded in understanding. Lexa seemed to have some sort of distance to her past. Her emotions concealed, the only sign her shimmering eyes, full of emotion. "He took care of me when nobody else did. I guess, I owe him my life." 

The brunette looked up, her eyes searching, for what Clarke couldn't tell but the blonde just nodded. "He told me as much." They fell silent afterwards, both of them nursing their whiskey.  

It was Lexa who broke the silence once again. Both of them lost "You know, I hated you at first. I mean, you're from a rich family. So, when I heard it, I was jealous at first, hated the fact that you were throwing away your life though you had everything. Privileges I could only dream of.", her voice soft, low.  

"What changed?", Clarke's eyes found Lexa's. "I guess I realised no matter how you grow up or what you have in life, privilege doesn't do shit for you. Realised that you faced the same as me." 

Clarke raised an eyebrow, wondering what Lexa was getting at. "Your father... I heard you calling out for him, in your sleep, the other day." Clarke gulped at those words, remembered them from years ago when she was fighting with her mother and missed her father. "I get it, I really do." The brunette smiled at Clarke, a sad one but her eyes shone of understanding. "I lost someone special, too. Her name was Costia." 

This was their breakthrough, their self-appointed peace and as the night advanced Clarke and Lexa were deeply in conversation, slowly nursing one whiskey after another. They formed a deep understanding about one another, feeling strangely connected. Something neither of them could explain.    
Gustus was the one that disturbed the bubble they had found themselves in. He was also the one that heaved the intoxicated women back to their hotel room, only to find them the next morning, cuddled up and in deep sleep. 

____________ 

 

Six months after their first job together Clarke was named Bounty Hunter of the Year. The ceremony small, only a handful of Bounty Hunters, cheering loudly for her. With that award Jaha employed Raven, their new driver. She didn't talk much, was rather into studying plans and driving like a lunatic. But Clarke and her had a quiet understanding, probably the only one that got along with Raven. 

From that day onwards, Gus, Lexa and Clarke were inseparable. Occasionally Thelonious invited them over to his house, a huge villa with a big pool in West Hollywood. Though Clarke had never liked that kind of lifestyle it felt completely different here. Here, she had her family with her, the one she had chosen. 

To mark the occasion of being named Bounty Hunter of the Year, they had taken a day off and were lounging close to the pool. 

Music boomed loudly through the house, entertained four other guests. It turned out the three sassy woman and Nathan were the gatekeepers of humanity. The DMV. And Thelonius? He was the godfather to them all. 

While the sun shone merciless down on them, Clarke occupied a pool raft, slowly floating around. In her right hand she held a beer, almost empty. But she was far from caring, Lexa was sitting on a pool raft next to her, splashing with water.  

"You are sure you are ready for that fight?", Clarke asked once a particular huge wave of water hit her. She had a huge smile on her lips, unable to give Lexa the grave look she deserved. Lexa nodded, surely spurred on by the third beer in her system. "Always." 

Their laughter rang through the house while Clarke and Lexa fought as mercilessly as one could while floating on water with one hand occupied by a bottle of beer. At some point the bottles perished, finding their graves on the bottom of the pool.  

Lexa pulled Clarke from her raft, only to be hit by another wave of water. She sputtered and pushed her drained brown hair out of her face. "Enough?", Clarke asked, a shit eating grin on display. "Never.", Lexa returned. 

Soon enough Clarke and Lexa were completely drained, giving up the moment the smell of pizza filled the air. Noon had come around and with it hunger. So, all of them had moved into the house, leaving Clarke and Lexa behind. The brunette was the first to leave the pool, pushed her hair out of her face and looked over to Clarke. 

The blonde, already looking at Lexa, smiled.  

"Hungry?", Lexa asked, a smile gracing her features. Clarke pushed the raft to the side and moved over to the pool edge, reached out her hand. "Duh, you think I missed the heavenly smell of pizza?", she grinned before Lexa grabbed her forearm and pulled her up. Neither of them anticipating the force behind Lexa's pull. 

"Right, Pizza your...", Lexa didn't finish her sentence, wasn't able to. Bodies flushed against one another, knocked air out of her lungs. 

Her eyes widened in shock, the blonde in her arms. Her hands on her hips, grazed soft skin, felt goose bumps. Weren't it for the water that dripped down Clarke's body Lexa would have thought, hoped, those goose bumps were because of her.  

Forest green met sky blue.  

And for a moment nothing else mattered. The music was drowned, the water dripped from their hair, from their eyelashes, made them blink. Lexa opened her mouth, to say something, anything but came up with nothing. 

Clarke just breathed in, leaned back a little bringing distance to their faces. She roamed Lexa face, looked at her, full of surprise.  

Lexa allowed herself to flicker to Clarke's lips, licked her own. It was tempting and everything in Lexa called to her, told her to give in, to follow her impulse. 

The moment Lexa decided to follow her intuition, her feelings, Clarke's hand landed on her biceps, slowly pushed herself away, head to the side. 

Stopping half-way, Clarke could feel Lexa's hair grazing her cheek, felt the hot breath against her skin. She took a deep, almost shuddering breath and fled out of the embrace she had found herself in.  

Lexa should have known better, no feelings, nothing of the sort, they had agreed on that. Love was weakness after all. 

A rough sigh left Lexa's lips, brushed hot breath against Clarke's ear before she managed to completely untangle herself from Lexa. Complete silence enveloped them, despite the music that was loudly booming next to them. Clarke wondered, for a second, if she could mend things, make them better but what was she supposed to say? <i>'Not yet'? 'Not ever'? </i> 

It was Gustus who pulled them out of their bubble, his loud voice echoed through the house. 

"Lex, Clarke, you coming or what? There won't be any pizza left you don't hurry up." 

Clarke didn't look back, just left Lexa behind, her heart pounded strongly in her chest. "You have to stop them, Gus, you know how much I love my pizza." Her voice wavered, filled with unspoken emotions. She stumbled into the house, grasping for air, for anything to drown the feelings that tried to bubble up inside her.  

Gustus, oblivious to it all, pulled Clarke in his arms as soon as she reached the group, thrusted a pizza box into her hand. "I saved you one.", he said with a cheeky smile, pulling Clarke even closer. The blonde let him. Thanked him silently that he distracted her like that. No matter how close she had gotten with Lexa over the last weeks, month, she knew that feelings would only hurt her. 

For weeks they had danced around one another, the lines of their friendship blurred, so much so that they had started to have a certain dynamic around one another. Neither Clarke nor Lexa had realized it had been there, that it had bubbled underneath the surface. 

And just like that it had started to boil, wildly. 

_________ 

 

The rest of the night Clarke spent the time drinking beer and smoking cigarettes, avoiding Lexa. Once in a while she danced with Gustus, laughed about his jokes while her mind got clouded by substances.  

Lexa did not come over again, just sat on a stool in a corner, looked through her hair, watched how Clarke hung to every word Gustus said, watched as he hugged her close, kissed her cheeks and seemed like the happiest man alive. 

She knew that feeling, got used to it while Clarke had been around. Now she felt hollow, drowned herself in whiskey.  

Though Lexa had sworn herself to not give in to feelings again, she had, was unable to deny them.    
The moment Clarke had stepped into her life, it had been a lost cause. No matter how much she fought back, pushed feelings to the side, they had caught up with her. She wasn't sure what she had been thinking, Clarke surely didn't like her like that. 

The way she was dancing with Gustus, let him hold her face with fondness while he told her how much he loved her, for all she knew.  

Lexa had been a stranger to jealousy before but now all she could see was the way Clarke clung to Gustus, barely able to talk to someone else.  

Lexa hated it, all of it. She shouldn't have tried, should have just laughed about it as any good friend did but she hadn't, couldn't. 

While the alcohol clouded her mind, her brain came up with more scenarios as to how Clarke would spend the night, her anger grew, made her rash, lastly resulting in a fist connecting with a window.  

It was Indra who brought her to bed, Indra who put the Advil next to her bed and bandaged her bleeding hand. That night Clarke didn't sleep next to her, not any day after that for several months. 

Love was weakness indeed.  

________ 

 

The next day was filled with hangovers and the monthly visit at Clarke's home. She had promised her mother, once, that she would at least visit once a month. Today was the day. The visit consisted of them sitting together for two hours, Clarke cleaning her weapons, catching up on whatever had happened in their lives. 

Lexa and Gustus spent the time outside, in the car, waiting for Clarke to return. In contrast to usual Lexa was still bitter, her feelings still hurt.

Gustus knew that she liked Clarke one way or another but he still had taken advantage of the blonde. And Lexa was pretty sure that he had slept with Clarke the other night. Where else would she had been? Plus, this morning Clarke had behaved as usual, no awkward glances, no weird atmosphere. It was as if the moment at the pool had never happened.  

"You know, a guy could get used to a life this ordinary.", Gustus said after the silence had stretched on for too long. Clarke's mother, Abby, lived in Beverly Hills, one mansion next to the other, huge gardens, sculpted plants. The whole area looked like it had been crafted from the rich and famous. 

Lexa just huffed at Gustus words, looked over to him, hurt. "Maybe you should...", she started, her voice wavering. Her emotion still controlled her, the hurt deeper than she let on. Until now. Gustus looked over, confused as to why she would address him like that, and cocked his head to the side. "Maybe you should fuck her mom, too.", she almost spat at him, emotions on display. 

Gustus, taken totally off-guard, looked at Lexa with wide eyes. Said brunette just avoided him and looked out of the window, hiding behind her brown hair which was still fuzzy from the night before. "What the fuck is your problem, bitch?" 

He sounded angry in a way Lexa hadn't heard very often but he was also some sort of big brother for her, so he would never leash out on her. He just propped his arms up on the steering wheel, sighed loudly and looked out of the window. 

Meanwhile Clarke was sitting inside, cleaned her weapons thoroughly while answering whatever her mother came up with. Abby was currently brewing some coffee and stared out of the window, Gustus' car in her sight. 

"So, who is this Lexa?", she asked, unable to hide her judgement. Clarke knew her mother was terrified of the work she did. Not approving of the lifestyle her daughter had chosen. If Abby had had any say in what Clarke would be doing she'd either stuck to anything medicine related or would have supported Clarke in the field of arts. Neither of the things interested Clarke, as far as Abby knew. 

Some months ago, Clarke had started drawing again, mostly doodles while they were driving from one place to another. Lexa had highly praised the art, no matter how small. She always told her she was special, and last night... It was Abby who disturbed Clarke's thoughts and she was glad about it. She wasn't sure where her thoughts were headed towards to. Unfortunately, Abby still seemed to be interested in her relationship.  

"Is she your new girlfriend?", she wanted to know, turning around from the freshly brewed coffee she just made. She needed to look at Clarke, see if she would try to conceal her feelings. But Clarke didn't even look up – a clear sign that she was indeed avoiding something – and loaded the gun with new bullets. "Her name is Lexa, and she's not my girlfriend. She's a bounty hunter." She clicked the weapon closed and finally looked up.  

Abby had turned around again, picked up her cup of coffee and sipped at it, still staring out of the window. "Whatever. She's a criminal. And that Gustus Moseby character...", she sighed before continuing. "I mean, he's a complete loser." It seemed like Abby wished for better company for her daughter, someone who was worth her charm but Clarke had never cared for that. Her friends had always been delinquents, if she had any at all. 

Clarke held up the weapon, closed her right eye and aimed at the goldfish bowl. The goldfish was some sort of symbol, something her mother had purchased a few years ago, as some sort of peace offering Clarke supposed. It was also meant as a gift, one which Clarke would take with her. 

She stood up from the table, secured the weapons at her belt and walked over to her mother. "It was nice being here...", she started, her mother knew that meant she planned on leaving.  

It was a routine, Clarke always left when her mother talked to much about her crew, badmouthed them. 

Maybe they were dysfunctional but they worked. They were family. 

__________ 

 

Once in a while Clarke was so lost in the memories that she forgot she was telling an FBI agent all about it. She forgot that this wasn't a story she told, fiction, this was her life. 

So, when Anya interrupted her, she needed a second to orientate herself. Looked around in the dimly lit room, accustomed herself with the smell of dried blood and sweat that clung to her. 

Anya didn't wait, just pulled a picture out of her file and pushed it over to Clarke. "Do you know this man?", she asked, her voice professional, sharp. "Yeah, he's a reality television producer. His name's Markus Kane." 

Anja nodded, she knew that already but at least Clarke wasn't trying to hide anything. "Mr Kane was very generous in...", she made a short pause, her lips twitching slightly. "turning over some videotapes to the FBI. There's lots of footage of you." It felt looming, dangerous. "We know everything." 

Clarke couldn't help the knowing look that claimed her face, she glanced over to Anya, shortly. They knew nothing. 

__________ 

 

Markus Kane was an old friend of her mother, Abby. If rumours were true they had dated for quite a while, a long time before Clarke's father had happened. It was a time in which Abby wasn't interested in money but followed her passion, followed people that were passionate. Markus Kane was just that, if not a little lofty.  

Today's Abby loved that side about him, invited him over whenever possible and so it came that he heard about Clarke's story, about her job. As a result he had invited them over to his station, turned out he planned on putting them on TV. 

The moment they stepped into the office they were greeted by a beautiful brunette called Niylah, furious but shy towards her boss. She led them over to the elevator and called to Markus that they were currently coming up to his office on the 10th floor. 

"I should let you know that Mr Kane will only be available to meet for about five minutes, so we should hurry up and cut to the point." Also, Niylah hated to spent more time with him than necessary, he was loud and impolite. 

Clarke nodded in understanding, quickly looking over to Gustus who seemed relaxed and somewhat amused by the situation. In his years as a bounty hunter he had never been invited to a TV station. Clarke surely was a whirlwind for this profession.  

Niylah cleared her throat when they were almost on the 10th floor and turned around to the group. "I recommend speaking in short sentences because he has the attention span of a ferret on crystal meth.", the grinned that garnered her lips was mischievous and Clarke liked it the very first moment. 

Lexa who had been quiet until now, leaned casually against the wall of the lift, put on her most charming smile and looked over to Niylah. "I've seen that." Niylah raised a questioning eyebrow at her, confused about what the brunette was talking about. "Um... Excuse me?"  

Lexa's smile deepened. "A ferret on crystal meth.", she explained before, as per usual when beautiful women were involved, she switched to Trigedasleng. Not only wanting she to impress Niylah but also make Clarke aware of the fact that she could indeed have other women as well. She could have just as much fun as Clarke seemed to have.  

"Ai got em dish plan in gada in en pichu. En choi op kom bakon, taida kom bakon." She talked with her hands, made biting motions but Niylah just looked at her utterly confused. 

So, Lexa tracked back – aware that barely anyone spoke her language – and pretended to be surprised. "You don't speak...you don't speak Trigedasleng?", she asked, her eyebrows raised in concern. "No." 

"No? This is LA, girl. You should speak Trigedasleng, you know?" Even if Niylah was not reacting to her flirting it still seemed a good idea to keep up the charade. Clarke was already eyeing Lexa, if surprised, angered or just curious, Lexa couldn't say. She tried to concentrate on Niylah, any look over to Clarke would betray her.   
   
Finally, the elevator dinged. A sigh of relief leaving Niylah. If she wanted to get out of the elevator or was just happy to finally reach the floor so her boss could attend their matters was hard to tell. She let the three of them to a small meeting room, filled with charts, posters and a huge tv. In one corner stood some sort of easel, concealed by some sort of curtain. 

   
Abby was already there, terrified that her daughter would be exploited. No matter how much she liked Markus, she still knew of his reputation. Markus though wasn't there yet, leaving Niylah to handle the guest. 

The brunette left the room a second to bring some water in the room before she sighed once again. It seemed like that was part of her job. "He's always late but he should be here any second." She seemed bored, annoyed even. Clarke assumed most of her job she waited for him to finally grace her with his presents. "Oh, there he is.", she took a seat next to Clarke and looked full of expectations over to Markus.  

"Abby.", he greeted Clarke's mother before anyone else and then looked over the gathered group in front of him. "Sorry, guys, about the wait.", he excused, taking a seat at the front of the table. He looked over the group, without raising an eye-brow, and sighed.  

"Let me cut to the chase 'cause I have to take this call. We want to follow you around with a camera crew for a week. The last thing we did...the pilot episode... is not testing well. We got too many rednecks.", he spoke quickly, his voice rising at the end of his sentence, as if he tried to make a point, before he looked over to Gus who raised an eyebrow at him. 

Markus gulped before continuing, trying to be as confident as he was supposed to be but it was clear to everyone in the room that he was rather soft around the edges. " It's too much like Cops. We need...", he stalled, looked over to Niylah who got up from her chair walking over to a curtain, pulled it away and revealed some sort of poster featuring Gus, Lexa and Clarke. "We need...something sexy! Something different. We need Clarke.", he looked over to the blonde bounty hunter, deliberately ignoring the others at the table and repeated himself. "We need Clarke."   

For a moment silence engulfed them, the expectations high on both sides, Gustus took over. He put his sunglasses on the table, leaned back comfortably but confidently, and cleared his throat loudly, effectively drawing the attention over to him. 

"Listen, uh, friend...we ain't gonna do this thing unless the whole team gets equal coverage." He looked over to Markus who just opened his mouth to form any sort of retort when Abby interrupted, her voice full of disapproval. "You're not her father, Gus. No one cares what you think." 

Gustus raised his eyebrow at her, looked over to Clarke who just smiled faintly at him, before he leaned a little on the table. "Well, with all due respect, Mom, I'm her boss, and she's on my team. OK?" He made sure to get his point across while maintaining eye-contact with Abby before he looked back to Markus. "And unless we all get equal coverage, we're all gonna walk the fuck out of here together, huh?" 

Once again silence enveloped them, Lexa was playing around with a small pen, the only sign that she was somewhat tense.    
Clarke just looked over to Niylah who was still busy putting up small posters around them, one of which showed Clarke alone. When she looked back over to Gustus, he just smiled and got up. "Hmm? Equal coverage, or we all walk.", he said once again, walking over to Lexa, his hand on her shoulder.  

Markus seemed to panic that his new reality tv show would walk out of the room and almost screamed at them. "Done! OK.", he then seemed to remember where he was and added quietly, "The whole team... We follow it." 

Gustus apparently happy with that turn of the events, leaned slightly against Lexa's shoulder, the brunette looked up shortly, full of understanding. Gustus wanted her to follow in case they actually had to leave.  

Clarke still hadn't said anything, she was watching, wanted to see what her mother seemed to think about all of this. And Abby did not disappoint. "What guarantee can you give us that Clarke's name won't be tarnished?"  

Markus looked over to Abby, a sigh on his lips. "Abby, this is reality television. What you see is what you get." It seemed like that was enough for Abby, she looked over to Clarke.  

"Clarke. You will be exploited, your story won't be told truthfully, and your life will never be the same." 

Abby even got up from her seat, motioned towards the huge poster that featured all three of the group. "I beg you. I beg you not to get involved with this...this drivel!" It was apparent that Abby wanted Clarke to back out of this. No matter what.  

"No offence, Markus, but we both know that this is drivel.", she repeated, all professional, Markus just nodded. "No offence taken." As Clarke still gave the silent treatment towards her mother, Abby concentrating on perfecting the deal for Clarke, even if the blonde hadn't shown any interest just yet. "Anyway, if she's gonna be in anything, she should be in the centre." 

Clarke couldn't help but grin slightly when Markus agreed, even if the terms, just minutes ago, set by Gustus said they should focus on the whole team. "Sure, OK. But...", Markus didn't manage to say anything against it as his phone started to ring. He pulled it hectically out of his pants, and looked over to Abby. "Done! Talk it over. I have to take this call." 

All of them exchanged glances with Clarke, around Gustus lips there played a small smile, Lexa looked at Clarke full of expectations, probably ready to do whatever the blonde wanted, even if it wasn't obvious. 

And Clarke? Clarke felt like a hypocrite, given her hatred of all things Hollywood. But she had to admit, she wanted their story told, wanted everyone to know the things they had done and would do in the near future. Maybe her mind was clouded at the moment but she wanted the world to recognise them. 

"We'll do it.", and so all it took where Clarke's words. Gustus and Lexa nodded, Abby looked some shocked and Raven? Raven just sat there in the corner, eyeing everyone with suspicion but not with refusal. She nodded once Clarke looked over to her.  

It was the beginning of the end. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Souda. Kos we na ste set raun. - A drink. For while we wait.  
> Ai got em dish plan in gada in en pichu. En choi op kom bakon, taida kom bakon. - I knew this chick who had a ferret. That bit her in the ass. right in the ass. 
> 
>  
> 
> And maybe because it doesn't really make sense, I use Trigedasleng because I don't speak Spanish and found it kind of nice to practise Trigedasleng a little, plus it technically makes sense that Lexa speaks. So I pretend people in Venezuela speak it...


	5. When it all goes down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the long wait, the story is already done, I'm just lazy with uploading everything.

It didn't take long for Markus to close the deal and sent the whole squad over to a film-set. Though neither of the attendant knew why they would need a film-set in the first place. It was supposed to be reality TV, reality.   
  
But still, Clarke had agreed to it and now they would follow through with it, whatever happened. So, they were sitting in the corner where free coffee and breakfast was served, watching Raven. Raven who was incredibly busy customizing their RV. Right after their meeting with Markus she had asked everyone if they were okay with some... well sort of political approach.   
  
Neither of the squad had cared and that was why the RV was now clad in bones, monkey heads and a huge graffiti – done with the help of Clarke – showing baring teeth of an undefined monster. It surely was something else and Clarke was incredibly proud of it.   
  
In the meantime a white, much smaller, transporter stopped next to the set. Out of it tumbled two guys, one blonde, the other brunet, both of them part of a show that Clarke had loathed since her childhood.   
  
"Come on, Bri. We're late, we're late.", the blonde said, walking quickly over to his friend who just, as per usual, complained about the GPS they had used. "Dude, it's fucking Mapquest. I told you, never again with that piece of shit."   
The blonde, Ian, was ready to argue, to tell Brian that they had to hurry up, no matter what kind of issue he had when Markus intercepted them.   
"Guys.", he greeted, put his hand on Ian's shoulder and pulled him over to their sort-of cafeteria. "Come meet Clarke."   
  
Clarke was just about to leave her seat and congratulate Raven on her skills to make their RV this menacing when Markus suddenly appeared in front of her. "Clarke, I want you to meetthe co-hosts of Bounty Squad."   
  
The moment she laid her eyes on them all she could think of was 'Fuck', over and over again. How was it even possible that there were two actors from 90210 in front of her? She really couldn't get away from it.   
It didn't take her as long as one could think to count one and one together. Her mother, Abby, obviously had pulled some strings, how could she now? Why else would they be here?   
"Ian Ziering." Markus motioned towards the blonde who then reached out to shake hands with Clarke and Gustus, surely the approachable ones of this squad. "Brian Austin Green. Clarke."   
  
As soon as Markus realized Lexa was still sitting in the corner with crossed eyes, he sighed quietly and motioned towards Lexa. "Leksa … Lexa.", he said, Brian took on the cue, never one to shy down when it was all about beautiful woman and reached out his hand. "Leksa?", he repeated but the brunette just eyed him suspiciously. "Lexa."   
  
Brian nodded, the excuse written all over his face. "Lexa, sorry." The brunette just acknowledged him with a nod and looked over to Clarke who still seemed to be fazed by this whole meeting. Lexa was about to reach out her hand, show her understanding when Niylah came running over to them. "Markus? Listen, uh, the woman from Afghanistan has made some significant changes to the RV."   
  
The whole group turned around, missing the fact that Clarke grinned broadly behind them. This surely was a masterpiece. As if looking for approval she looked over to Lexa who smiled at her, pleased.   
The others didn't take it as lightly, the only thing that Clarke could hear was a muttered 'Oh, my god' by one of her 'co-hosts'.   
  
As the group walked over to the RV with big eyes, full of surprise and doubt, Clarke and her friends got up from their corner, following the others.   
Markus was the first to speak after he had seen the decoration on the windshield. "Are those real bones?", he asked, looking over to Raven who just smiled at him, full of innocence and nodded. "Monkey... monkey bones? Shrunken heads?"   
  
Raven polished over one of the heads, almost affectionately. "From my family." She seemed proud and Clarke knew why. Last night they had spent talking about what it meant to be in a reality show, about the fact that they could reach millions. It was that moment that Raven and Clarke decided it was time for a statement, even if Clarke was being honest, she hadn't thought about monkey bones and shrunken heads. But Raven was... well Raven, crazy as they can come. "I drive these bounty huntersfor a free Afghanistan."   
  
Raven grew up during the Russianinvasion of Afghanistan. She had always wanted to bepart of the revolutionbut it seemed to pass her by.At the tender age of 14, she decided that explosiveswould be her speciality. If the story Raven had told her held any truth in it, she had tried to blow-up some sort of car with other kids, apparently though Raven had miscalculated the explosion and almost burned her face of. Even worse though was that a tire of a car landed on her leg, making it almost immobile. Others would have given up their fight right that moment, but for Raven that only had been a challenge.   
  
Since then she did whatever she deemed necessary to help those kids in Afghanistan, even if it meant earning money while driving around some bounty hunters.   
  
__________   
  
After the incident had been cleared – with the result that they would not buy another RV - the squad found themselves in a first interview, right on set. Ian and Brian seemed to be intimidated by the fact that Lexa seemed unapproachable, that Gus was huge, tattooed, bearded man who could crush them any second and Clarke whose sole interest seemed to be ignoring them. She hated the fact that they were here or that she had to talk to them in any way.   
  
But it was clear that neither of them would talk to her, unless they wanted to be attacked – verbally hopefully - by Lexa who threw menacing looks at them. So, the only option they had left was Gustus.   
  
"OK, Gus, uh...What background should someone haveif they want to go into bounty hunting?", Ian voice wavered, showing how insecure he felt right that moment. Gus took that as an invitation, ready to crush those wannabe celebrities. "How does jail sound?"   
Brian looked questioning over to Ian, not sure if Gustus answer was legit or not. But the bounty hunter didn't seem to have any patience, not for them anyway.   
  
"So, tell me, do you boys hunt?" His eyebrows raised, he looked at them, expectant, only quickly glancing over to Lexa and Clarke who seemed interested in the answer they would get from their interviewers.   
Clarke sat almost cross-legged next to Lexa, her right arm on the armrest, supported her head, she looked bored at best. Lexa just did the usual, sitting cross-armed next to Clarke, her head inclinded towards her, as if to search for any kind of connection.   
  
"I killed a... I killed a squirrel...Once." Brian looked insecure, absolutely not in his element. Gus just bared his teeth, a sign that Gustus tried to be nice, tried to smile and failed. "Well, let me tell you something.Once you hunt a human being, you'll never hunt an animal again." His voice sounded dangerous, somewhat cold. "You know, it's a different kind of rush.The problem is, is that whenyou've done it for as long as I have,all you got to show for it isan empty bank account and, uh, IBS." Until now the guys had looked scared but with the mention of IBS, their interest seemed to peak. "IBS?", one of them asked, getting a scoff in return from Gustus.   
  
"Yeah, that's irritable bowel syndrome." It seemed like Brian had forgotten that Gustus was talking to him, that he had actually been scarred for life when Gustus mentioned hunting humans, already imagining it could be him. "You got a spastic colon?That's hysterical.", humour evident in his voice, he looked over to Ian for verification but the blond just shrugged, as if unsure what Brian was talking about. "You know, my grandmotherhas one of those."   
Gustus leaned forward, his full size on display. "Does your grandmother hunt?" Clarke, unable to keep a straight face, grinned at Gustus, found his behaviour ridiculous but his way to handle this whole ordeal amazing. The smile slipped from Brians face, leaving behind a stuttering mess.   
"Uh, well, I don't know. Maybe." Gustus leaned forth in his chair, reached out his hand and grabbed Brian's forearm. He pulled him closer, close enough so he wouldn't be heard and looked Brian right into the eye. "Why don't you justshut the fuck up, huh?"   
  
Clarke, only being a quiet observer, felt it was time to put a stop to this, unless anyone wanted to be hurt real soon. "How about a break?", she asked, looking over to Niylah who was nodding furiously, not only because the topic had been weird but because Raven seemed to be at her heel, ready to talk her up and Niylah did not seem amused about that.   
  
______   
  
  
At the same time someone else struggled to keep his family together. Thelonoius Jaha.   
Indra with whom he had had his son Wells was currently trying and struggling to get any attention to talk about the American health system. But as a black, poor woman, there was no way anyone else would listen to you, unless it was on Jerry Springer and Indra was not desperate enough for that. Yet.   
  
Still, they had a problem. Wells whose wife had died by childbirth, had left him behind with a daughter. A small little being he loved dearly and which he had called Gaia. The problem she had a rare blood disease.Her white cell count was dropping fast. It meant that she could die in the next few month, unless they could afford the therapy that was necessary for that.   
  
Right now, Wells was sitting in front of his daughter, Gaia, who was playing in her baby cot behind some sort of curtain that filtered the air and made sure that no insects would manage to get close to her.   
Thelonious stood next to the cot, leaned against it while eyeing his granddaughter.   
  
"Dad?" Jaha looked down and sighed, he knew, he just knew what Wells was about to say. "We need money."   
He nodded, looked back over to Gaia and tried to find a way, anyway to help his granddaughter. When suddenly... "I got an idea." Wells looked up, surprised. "What?"   
"Armoured car business.We just signed a newinsurance policy in Nevada.There's a loophole."   
Wells raised his eyebrows, it didn't seem like it could work or was a valid option at all but Jaha already had some kind of distant look on his face. It seemed like his idea blossomed in his head. Thelonious Jaha, bail bondsman, armoured car service, bounty hunter service. An unusual combination.   
  
_____   
  
The plan was set in motion several days later, namely the day Indra got a visit from Bellamy. Clarke, being a close member of Jaha's family and key figure in his plan, drove Indra to work the next day. It was some sort of preparation for what was to come. "Wells, me and Jaha are working on a plan to get money for Gaia." Indra looked over her shoulder to Wells who was raising his eyebrow in question. Nobody had told him what was about to happen or how he could partake in the plan that was ahead of them.   
"A real good plan, baby... a good plan.", she repeated, more quietly this time. Only Clarke could hear it and she wondered, not for the first time since Jaha had mentioned 'the plan' what that entitled and what kind of role she had in this whole scenario.   
  
She wasn't necessarily aware that Inda had been running a counterfeit driver's licence racket but she had heard things, knew things. It was no rocket science, really. Indra needed money, so what else was she supposed to do?   
  
That morning, Clarke drove first Wells to school and then dropped her off at the DMV. The reason, as told by Jaha, was that Indra's car was in the shop. Indra got out of the car, still mumbling about the plan and a way to save Gaia, before she turned around and walked into the building. Clarke sighed. Somehow, she knew, just knew, that something was about to go down.   
  
_____   
  
It was the day Bellamy came over for the driver licenses but it was also the day Indra had to answer her supervisor. A guy who had always despised her, for one reason or another.   
"How convenient. The morning you call in sick,I go to the coffee shop around the corner and see you all over that."   
  
Indra knew that wasn't ideal in any way, that had also been the day where she had gone to the hospital, for Gaia. "Give me a break, Pat. What do you want?" Pat walked around the desk, supported himself with his arms against the desk in front of him. "I got a call yesterday from our health care provider. They said you tried to pass your granddaughter off as Wells down at City Terrace Community Hospital." He looked at Indra, tried to find the truth hidden inside her. When she didn't react at all, he continued. "They said you forged the age on the application for some sort of operation."   
  
Indra held fast onto her seat, her fingers pressed into the old wood. "Motherfuckin' HMOs don't cover grandchildren. Now what am I supposed to do? That fuckin' operation is $300,000.Where am I gonna get the money, Pat?" The anger was evident in her voice, her whole posture telling Pat how desperate she was, how hard it was for her to watch her granddaughter die.   
  
Pat showed no sympathy either he didn't understand or he simply didn't care. "Yeahl, well, maybe you should've thought about that before you became a grandmother." If he could have, he surely would have spit at her but that wasn't the time for it, so he just looked down at Indra with all the authority he had. And it wasn't much. "Fuck you.", Indra growled but he ignored it. "You got 2 weeks to clear out your desk."   
  
It just keptgetting worse for Indra. "What?" Her look one of utter shock. She could not afford to lose her job. She just couldn't. Pat showed no mercy. "Did I stutter? 2 weeks."   
No one could'veexpected what happened next. "Oh, by the way, there are a couple of FBI agents here that want to talk to you."   
  
A cup of coffee, a frantic phone call with Jaha later, Indra sat once again in a small office not her own. This time two people were in front of her, one brunette woman, seemed as merciless as they could become and a guy, not really threatening in anyway, apart from his bulk appearance.   
  
"You're gonna go to jail for a long, long time, Indra.", the woman said while Indra was lightening a cigarette with trembling hands. She wasn't a smoker but her life was falling into pieces. If anyone had found out she was illegally issuing driver licenses, jail wasn't as farfetched as she liked to admit. "Unless you cooperate with us.", the bulk guy introduced himself as Agent Lincoln, his partner called Octavia. Someone had tipped them off to 'counterfeit scam but that wasn't what they were really after.   
  
Indra took a drag from her cigarette, breathed out the smoke and looked over to the two of them, trying to elude as much confidence as she could muster. "I'm listening." Ocatvia indicated with her head towards the halls outside before looking back at Indra. "In about 10 minutes,a college kid named Francesis gonna walk up to your windowand ask for 4 counterfeit IDs."   
  
  
Indra looked away, unable to question what the FBI was talking about. Where they trying to catch her while in flagrant? Was that what it was all about? Another drag from the cigarette, temporising.   
It was Lincoln who disturbed the tensed atmosphere with his calm voice, it almost seemed like he was smiling at Indra. "You could help us out here. Indra, we wantto know what he's up to."   
  
The smoke burned in her lungs, made her feel sick but distracted her from the fact that she was currently interrogated, pressured into cooperating with the FBI. "I mean, look at you. You got your hair did,your nails lookin' all good.You go to jail, that's all gonna go away." They were behaving as if Indra was dumb, as if she didn't know what it meant to be here. They had her on the hook and even if she was a proud person, she knew there was no easy way out.   
  
"Won't see your kids for a long time." Octavia's voice sounded superior, sounded like she was well above Indra. "Think about it.It's gonna be long as hell."   
And oh, did Indra think about it. She had already with Jaha on the phone, had his voice in her head, telling her to be brave, confident. And it was in this moneht when Indra decided to do something foolish and Bellamy just happened to be there in the wrong place at the wrong time. "Okay.", she said, her voice only slightly trembling.   
  
"Okay.", she looked over to Lincoln, straightened her body, the cigarette stubbed out in the ashtray before her. "He and three of his friendsare gonna hijack an armoured truck.They're gonna walk awaywith 10 million in cash."   
  
Octavia raised an eyebrow. "10 million. Hmm." This very moment Indra knew it had worked, they would believe her, for now.   
And just like that, Bellamy had gotten his licenses and the shit was about to go down.   
  
_______   
  
After her shift Indra called onto her best friends. She needed help if the plan she had formulated in her head was to go as expected. She told them to meet her at their favourite hangout spot, a small coffee place close to work.   
  
Once everyone had arrived and ordered a coffee, Indra took a deep breath. She mustered everyone, wondered if her friends would be with her but she had no choice. No choice at all. Either they would help her or she would end up in jail, Gaia would not get her treatment and Wells would get lost in grief. Her life was put on a scale.   
  
Nathan, her colleague sat next to Indra, smiling at her courageously. He had some insight about the situation and was ready to help her in any way. Vera and Nygel, to friends Indra knew since childhood, sat next to one another, looking over at her full of expectance.   
  
"All right, y'all, I've done...", she started, unable to think properly. Her thoughts were a mess, twirling around, leaving behind nothing else but chaos. "I've dug myself a deep hole,and, uh, I can't get out by myself."   
  
She made a pause. "Can y'all dig what I'm saying?" She looked over to Vera who nodded at her. Then over to Nathan who leaned over to Indra, full of support. "Girl, we're in a hole together. We dig together. We're a team." A small smile grew on his face. All of them knew of Gaia, knew when Indra had gotten pregnant as a teenager with Wells on the way. They knew all about their friend and were ready to support her with all means necessary. It was Nygel who dissolved the tense situation.   
  
"Just like Billy Ocean says: 'When the going gets tough...'", Nygel added, looking over to Vera who smiled at her, broad and confident. "'the tough get going.'" The two women high-fived one another and looked over to Indra.   
Then, as a sign of comradeship, all of them put the hands in the middle of the table, smiles on their faces. For this very brief moment Indra could believe in her plan, could imagine it to work out. Maybe it hadn't been a bad idea after all.   
  
The plan was set in motion one week later.   
  
__________   
  
It was close to a riverbed, underneath a bridge where a huge armoured truck was currently investigated by the police. A few hours prior they had been called by a citizen that had driven by, so much for the theory. In reality, it had been different.   
The detective in charge had just arrived at the scene, being on the phone with one of his colleagues. "Think you're having a tough day?You should see this." He walked around his car, over to the open truck where his colleagues tried to get fingerprints. "I got an armoured truck that's empty.Yeah."   
  
Unfortunately that wasn't just anyones truck. This truck belonged to Dante Wallace, ower of the Mountain Hotel and Casino. "I think Mr Wonderful is pulling up now.", the officer spoke into the phone walking over to the white-haired man, next to him stood his attorney, Carl Emerson. Wallace was worth a billion dollars,10 million of it recently stolen.   
"I'm Detective Chris Cudlitz.", he introduced himself, only getting a scoff from Emerson. "We know who you are, Cudlitz."   
Wallace looked over the scene, looked as his truck, open and empty. "Where's my money?", he wanted to know, walking over to the truck to get a closer look. The detective sighed. "Well, I think it's probably bestif we take a look at the tapes."   
  
After having a look at the scene once again Wallace nodded and motioned for Cudlitz to get into the car. In silence they drove over to the Mountain Hotel and Casino. There was much known about Cage, only that he prefered to be inside of the mountain and was rarely seen outside of it. So it didn't came as surprise for Cudlitz that they drove over there.   
  
Once they had gathered the tapes, Cage led them into his security room, situated himself in a chair and seemed to wait for Cudlitz to show him the material. It seemed as if a public camera had filmed it all.   
The scene started with the truck being parked. "Our tapes showthat at 6:23am,your truck pulls into the parking lotand turns the engine off." They watched the material a little while longer, saw how a second car drove onto the parking lot.   
Out of it came four people, all of them hidden underneath some sort of masks. "Rewind, please.", Wallace ordered, only to be parroted by Emerson. "Rewind the tape.", Cudlitz did as told, leaned towards the monitor to see what Wallace seemed to be looking for. "Freeze the tape."   
  
"Freeze the tape." Emerson repeated, Wallace only raised an eyebrow at him, too interested in the footage to actually care. "Now, can you zoom in?" A tap, the tape was zoomed in. "Zoom in, please.", parroted once again. It seemed like Emerson thought he needed to show some sort of authority, authority he didn't have. But after the third time it seemed as though Wallace had enough from his behaviour and leaned back in his chair, looking over to Emerson. "You a fucking mockingbird?Shut the fuck up!"   
  
Right after, Wallaced looked back to the tape, leaned in to see the zoomed in material. "Nancy Reagan.", he said, disbelieve filling his voice before he got up from his chair, walking over to the monitor. "I think that's Hillary Clinton.", Cudlitz interrupted. "Fat ankles."   
Wallace didn't react to him, still flabbergasted at the scene in front of him. "It's Barbara fucking Bush.And Jacqueline Onassisjust to her left.Christ almighty, it's the goddamnedFirst Ladies."   
He shook his hand, ran his hand through his sparce white hair. Cudlitz, standing next to him, leaned against the table, looked at Wallace full of interest. "If you don't mind measking you, Mr Cage,what exactly is in those tan duffel bags?"   
Emerson peaked up on that, moved closer to Cage. "You don't have to answer that." But Cage wasn't having any of it, he just shook his head, almost ignoring Emerson. "Shut up, Emerson. $10 million, cash." He looked over to Cudlitz before he restlessly started to pace through the room. "Don't tell me it was a fucking hijacking."   
  
At the same time the FBI was on the case. Indra had, supposedly, tipped them off and they were highly interested in what was about to happen, especially in regards of the 10 mullion dollars. One Jaha had known about in the first place.   
  
Through the speakers of the listening device came Cage's voice, rough and full of confusion. It seemed clear the Emerson was the reason that this transport had happened in the first place. "How'd you get me in this position, Emerson?   
Right now, in this moment, the FBI thought they were onto something but what exactly, they didn't know. Before Emerson could answer, another voice came through the speakers, unknown to them. Probably an employee.   
  
"Mr. Cage?You have an urgent telephone call, sir." Cage took the offered phone and looked over to Cudlitz, motioning him to leave the room. "Yeah. Cage."   
  
On the other side of the phone was Thelonious Jaha. "Cage, this is Thelonious Jaha.I own the Jaha BrothersArmoured Car Service." Jaha sounded confident, seemed as if he knew exactly what was going on. Cage, however, didn't seem to pick up on his voice. He just motioned Emerson to wait here and walked into another room, one of which was designed to secure a phone line. "Um, hold on a minute, please."   
  
It was that moment that the FBI lost their clue, at least for now. A wild chatter started, it seemed they were so close, yet so far. Only one voice rung through. "Let me isolate it."   
  
At the same time Jaha was onto his plan. He had to convince Wallace, tell him what had happened and how he thought a solution could look like. This part of the plan was crucial.   
"Yesterday I receivedan e-mail from a source.In this e-mail werefour social security numbersmade to counterfeitCalifornia driver's licences." Cage, not at all understanding what Jaha wanted from him, leaned against the table. "And?"   
  
Jaha took a quiet breath, sent a quick prayer to heaven that this would work and continued. "I believe these are the gentlemenwho robbed us, sir." There was a pause on the line, a clear sign that Cage was still listening, so Jaha continued. "I'm also a bail bondsmanout of Los Angeles, and I can track down and deliver these thieves to youfor a small finder's fee."   
There was no clear sign if Cage had swallowed it or not when he answered but his voice made Jaha believe that he did. "How much?"   
  
It made Jaha confident, made him smile. "Just $300,000." He knew of Cage being the owner of a hotel and casino, he knew that 300.000 were peanuts for him. On the other side of the line Cage motioned for Emerson to enter the room which complied easily.   
Once inside, he leaned against the other side of the phone. "And what happensif you don't deliver?", Cage wanted to know, trying to find out what Jaha was all about, suspicion evident in his voice. "My theft insurance policywill have to fork over that $10 million.That will take 6-8 months."   
  
"But you should know, sir,that I employ bounty hunters, and my bounty hunters can and willtrack down these thieves." Cage, not having any other choice just yet, agreed. "Well, you deliver these crooks to meand you've got yourself a deal..."   
  
Jaha grinned. It worked, it really did. "Thank you, sir. That's a deal."   
  
_______   
  
It was only shortly after the phone call, Emerson called another person, Titus Cigliutti. Cage's attorney had put his boss in business with the mob.   
  
"They're asking for a finder's fee.", Emerson's voice echoed through the phone. Titus was currently at home, in his villa close to Los Angeles. "Finder's fee? That's bullshit." His voice sounded harsh, unbelieving. It seemed as if Jaha hadn't been as convincing as expected. "Sounds like an inside job to me."   
  
Emerson nodded, even if it was unseen by Titus. He believed the same. "Could be. Who knowsif this Thelonious Jaha is in on the heist or not.All I know, if this jokerdelivers the First Ladies, we'll split the 300,000 fee with you."   
  
Titus sighed, his left fingers pressed against his nose. "All right, gentlemen.Sounds like we got a little situation here."   
  
Quite a mess indeed. Emerson had just brokeredan underhanded deal with Cigliutti.The 10 million,en route from LA to Vegas, belonged to the mob. Cage's clean reputation was a great cover for laundered cash.If the FBI could linkthe two men together,it would be the takedown of the century.   
  
Titus knew the FBI was always listening, so he walked over to his pull, swam to a small underwater cordless and called Cage once again, his voice echoing. "Okay, here's the plan. You get the bounty hunters to take these First Ladies to the Sam Kinison Monument. Then I'll tell you what we're gonna do." 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll upload it all at once. As a Christmas present of sorts.

The armoured car drove down the highway. As discussed with Roan Fender, they were on their way to the hideout which would be communicated via walkie talkie once they reached their next stop.  
Roan had never been one of the clever kind but he believed that the job he had scored at Jaha's would help him and his mother to finally leave the compound behind. He believed that the money that had been stolen would be his ticket to a better life.  
  
So Roan Fender had been brought into drive the armoured car, him being another one of Jaha's network of stooges.His mother Ednaworked at the Nedles DMV. It had been the perfect combination.  
  
To get the new coordinations Roan stopped at a gas station down the road. He would fill up the tank and then call Jaha. That was at least what was supposed to happen. Roan did know who the First Ladies were but had no trouble with driving them and being involved in the heist. His life was nothing but a total disaster, so this heist was nothing but the ordinary for him.  
  
"I'm gonna fill up the tank and grab a Mountain Dew. Don't make a peep. Especially you, Barbara.", he ordered the woman and got out of the car. Obilivous.  
  
"Hey, man.", he greeted the gas station clerk and looked around in the shop. "Hey, how's it going?" Roan looked up from the sweets in front of him and smiled at the guy. "I need to get, uh...$8 of gas and, um...A Mountain Dew.Do you have Moonpie?"  
  
While he searched for money to pay, the clerk just pointed towards the shelf next to Roan. "Yeah, I got a couple of them over there." Roan nodded, happy with the fact that they had some.  
He was just about to pay when he saw the sidedoor of the car opening, the First Ladies piling out of the car. "Shit! No, no, no!" Roan was sure they had nabbed the cash, assumed it was a straight-up double-cross.  
  
So when he reached the car and a Mercedes pulled of next to it, including the First Ladies, he assumed the car would be empty. But upon openening it, he realised they had left without it.  
It didn't made sense. Why would they leave the money behind? Roam walked back into the shop, payed for gas and moonpie before he left the gas station and drove over to the Fender Compound. He knew only of one person who could help him with it, her being involved in the coup in the first place.  
  
So when she rolled into the compound, Echo greeting him, he believed it was the best day of his live. "Mama! You're not gonna believe this.Mama, come quick!" He called over to the house, Nia emerging out of it soon after.  
  
Once she reached him, her eyes flitted over to the car, searching. "Where are the First Ladies?"  
Roan shrugged. "They dissappeared."  
  
Nia raised an eyebrow at her soon, sometimes he was to dumb for his own good. "What do you mean, they disappeared? "  
Roan retold the story, told his mother how he had just wanted to wait for the new location, how he had just wanted to get some gas when the First Ladies had disappeared.  
  
Nia pondered about it for a second, looked over to the duffle bags before making a decision. "Roan! Fuck 'em.Their loss is our gain.Put the money in the safe."  
Roan looked over. "Mama?" The older woman sighed, took the face of her son between her hands and looked him right in the eyes. "Roan...Fuck 'em."  
  
Roan nodded, looked shortly over to the moment and smiled slightly. "Okay, Mama."  
Nia assumed either this was some kind ofsetup, or the First Ladies got scared, decided to pull out and cut their losses. Whatever it was, Nia didn't care. They had the money and they would keep it.  
  
_____________  
  
Until that moment the bounty hunter squad knew nothing about the heist going on, they were not involved, did not know what was about to go down. All they were interested in was the next case coming up. A story about First Ladies stealing money.  
  
Plus, they had the TV production following them around.  
They had spent the night at Domino's place or rather her mother's and were about to go to their car.  
  
Next to their car there was another, probably the film team, ready to shot the television show Markus had envisioned. In their car were the 90210 guys her mother had hired, ready to interview Gus, Lexa and Clarke.  
  
Once they got in the car the team sat at their usual table, sorting through the files Titus had faxed them the night prior. Domino leaned over to her goldfish, fed it and looked over to Lexa motioned over to their two celebrities who had taken a liking to sleeping in the RV.  
  
"Are we rolling?", Brian asked quietly, motioning towards the camera. Today was the first day of shooting the show. The bounty squad wasn't really in the mood for it but it meant popularity, meant the job as a bounty hunter would get a face instead of being judged.  
  
Once the camera was rolling, Brian leaned back in his chair, behind him Clarke, Lexa and Gustus silently talked about the case. "So, today, Clarke and her team are out to nab four criminals for forging checks with counterfeit driver's licences." He introduced, before he turned around, holding the microphone towards Clarke. "What can you tell us about these 4 creeps, Clarke?"  
  
Domino sighed, looked up from the files and eyed Brian for a second. It was Lexa's encouraging smile that prompted Clarke to talk. "Apparently, they call themselves the First Ladies. Jackie Onassis...his real name is John Murphy."  
  
_______  
  
It was a music studio in West Hollywood. A place were rather unsuccessful people could book an appointment and hope for their single to be sold properly. John was the owner, an older man that had claimed to be the producer of huge country legends.  
  
In reality his studio wasn't successful at all, the fact that he had stolen 10 million dollars seemed logical.  
  
Currently he was sitting in his booth, listening to two woman singing discordant country. He sighed, lowered his head and wondered where in life he had gone wrong.  
  
What he didn't know of was that a huge RV had just pulled up in front of his building. So, he was taken completely off guard when the doors flew open. Clarke walked towards him, behind her Lexa and Gustus, only one of them holding a gun.  
  
"John Murphy, you're going to jail."  
The producer looked up from the mixer, raised his eyebrow. "What the fuck is this shit?", he got up from his chair, almost pulled out a weapon from the back of his jeans, when Lexa surrounded Clarke, walked over to John and took him in a headlock. She then proceeded to hurl him over to the wall and smashed his face into the wall, repeatedly.  
  
Markus who watched the scene from his truck outside was shocked at the display of aggression. He wasn't sure if that was daily business but he was surely impressed. Lexa absolutely showed off. "Jesus. This girl's a psychopath.", he mumbled when the camera focussed a little longer on Lexa.  
  
The brunette only stopped when Clarke's hand landed on her shoulder, pulling her back. "Enough.", she whispered, making Lexa realize what she had done. She nodded, pulled back and let Gustus handle John. "Sorry.", she mumbled towards Clarke.  
  
Sometimes, when Clarke was in danger Lexa forgot everything else around her. The only priority being Clarke's safety. A few weeks prior Clarke had been shot through the shoulder by some of their delinquents and Lexa still hadn't gotten over it. Especially because she believed that it had been her fault that Clarke had had no cover. If she hadn't checked for munition, it would surely have ended up differently.  
  
Still, Lexa could not deny that she would do anything for the blonde. Even if there was nothing between them, the feelings she had for Clarke were undeniably. If she had to, she would give her own life to make sure that Clarke was safe.  
  
"It's alright, come on.", Clarke pulled Lexa over by the arm and walked with her out of the studio, hopefully hidden from the cameras. For Lexa sake, Clarke sometimes wondered if they shouldn't have agreed to this project.  
  
Even if it wasn't visible most of the time Lexa's life had been harsh. She had grown up as a fighter, always ready to be aggressive if needed be. Still she was a tactician, knew when to use her strength.  
  
A few month prior Clarke would have thought Lexa had just flipped, had a bad day but something had changed. Lexa was suddenly different, more dangerous than she had been before. It was as if she was going into war, as if she saw every single delinquent as a threat.  
_________  
  
Their second culprit Nancy Reagan turned out to be a sex-addict called Jasper Jordan. A sex-addict who was aware of his issues and regularly attended a support group. Today was his day to share his believes, his reasoning as to why he believed that nymphomaniacs would have an even harder time to survive in the days ahead of them.  
  
"My name is Jasper, and I am a recovering nymphomaniac.", he introduced himself while he stood in front of a crowd of roughly 50 people. They greeted him with enthusiasm that only quieted down once he started the music of his cassette player. 2 Live Crew with Me So Horny started blasting through the halls, Jasper let it play for roughly thirty seconds before he stopped the song.  
  
"Now, if 2 Live Crew has taught us anything, it's that horniness in today's society is out of control. And at one point within the next decade, mark my words, ladies and gentlemen, society will have reached something I call...", he moved over to a huge sheet of paper, pointed towards it with his hand before looking over to the crowd again. "APATT...All porno, all the time. Pornography will have become an epidemic in this country."  
  
Everyone listened to him intently, nodding at the right places while Jasper thought of himself as the master of nymphomaniacs.  
Meanwhile Clarke and her team entered the room, followed by the camera team who caught Jasper talking about masturbation. "Phase one... masturbation."  
  
Markus, still being in his truck, watched this guy with interested. "Who's this chump?", he asked Nylah who was sitting next to him, watching the scene unfold. "That's Jasper Jordan, entertainment lawyer, some shit firm.", she shrugged clearly not interested.  
  
Unlike Markus who was interested. "And to our female friends here today, we must not abuse of our dogs with the lure of a peanut butter snatch." Some people cheered, called out loudly over to Jasper only being silenced when the door in the front was ripped open. "We must channel our horniness into extracurricular activities."  
  
Clarke was the first to talk. "Jasper Jordan, you're under arrest." As per usual, since they had started recording the show, Lexa took the liberty to take care of their culprit. She walked passed, pulled the guy over by his hair and hauled him behind her.  
Clarke looked over the crowd who looked at them with big eyes before she turned on her heel and followed Lexa.  
  
___________  
  
Barbara Bush and Hillary Clinton were next. As far as they knew it were some college kids from a sorority. Unbeknownst to them Bellamy and Finn Cigliutti were mafia kids. Their father was mob boss Titus Cigliutti, the guy closely working with Dante Wallace.  
  
They found them at their frat house and they'd been under FBI surveillance for the past six months. It seemed only logical to monitor those kids. If the FBI got lucky they would manage to get Cigliutti by the balls.  
  
The FBI car stood outside of said frat house, observing the party that was ongoing. So far nothing had stood out but the party wasn't exactly what they were waiting for today.  
The FBI, tipped off by Indra, had assumed than rather sooner than later the bounty hunters would make an appearance and now was finally the time.  
  
Two huge RVs parked in front of the house, making the whole FBI team alerted. "All right, boys, we're in business." One said through his headset, leaning closer to see the screen. "The bounty hunters have arrived."  
  
The group piled out of the RV, followed by their two celebrities and the camera teams. Clarke and Gustus lead the way while the rest of them followed slowly.  
  
Unsurprisingly it wasn't any hustle to get into the house. The students there were far too drunk to actually care, some of them might even have been on substances.  
  
Once they had walked through the main room, it seemed fruitless to search for faces. There were far too many people. Lexa threw Clarke a side-way glance, wondering what the blonde was up to, before her loud voice boomed through the room.  
  
"We're looking for Bellamy and Finn! Are they here?" The crowd got quiet for a second before cheering loudly. "We're from a new reality TV show. It's called Bounty Squad." The cheering got even louder and Clarke just smiled. It seemed like this could work.  
  
As the crowd got worked up, chanting 'Bellamy' loudly through the house, they were led to another room. In the middle of it stood a dark, very used couch with only two occupants.  
The group came to a stop, still chanting Bellamy's name loudly, almost as if in trance. "All right, 60 seconds. Here's the question. Which one of you is Bellamy?" A guy with dark, somewhat curly hair, looked at them with big eyes, clearly feeling uncomfortable.  
Next to him sat another guy, a snapback up on his head, chewing his lips nervously.  
  
He looked back and forth between Clarke, Lexa and Gustus, trying to access the situation. Meanwhile the crowd started pointing towards the other guy, loudly calling out Bellamy.  
  
Mister Snapback, apparently called Finn, was the first to react, he jumped up from the couch, grabbed the table and pushed it towards the trio only to then run towards the door. Lexa was hot in his heels, grabbing him by his shirt, pulling him back momentarily before the fabric ripped and Finn made for an exit.  
  
Bellamy, obviously being too slow, stood in front of the couch and was knee-deep in a stare-down with Gustus. The huge guy just grinned at the college boy and challenged him to do something stupid.  
Clarke stood next to him, lazily whirling around her nun-chucks, ready to attack when necessary.  
  
For a moment the whole room was quiet, the people in the room pushed themselves back into corners, trying to stay out of this compromising situation. Gus, not the most patient person in the world, took a few steps towards Bellamy, pulled out his baton and poked into Bellamy's chest with it.  
  
Bellamy snapped, pushed the baton away and run towards the door. Unfortunately for him Clarke had anticipated it, she took a sideway step, reached out with her nun-chuck and wrapped the metal around Bellamy's throat, making him lose his balance. Seconds later he was lying on the floor, holding his throat, couching loudly.  
  
Clarke didn't let go off him but moved down, turned Bellamy around and pressed her knee in his back. "Stay down.", she warned him before fiddling with her handcuffs. She applied the cuffs to his wrists and stood up, leaving Gustus to it.  
  
Meanwhile Lexa was chasing Finn through the house. Unluckily for her, he had an advantage at knowing the house. So, Lexa was still in the second floor when she heard a loud beep noise from the outside. She moved over to the window, only to see Finn opening a car and getting into it.  
  
"Fucker.", she mumbled, turned around and started searching the room. There was no way that she would catch up with him.  
The room was mainly empty, so the only thing she found was an old TV. She looked at it, wondered for a moment if that could actually help her, before she heaved it from its table and moved it to the window.  
  
Outside the tires screeched but Lexa didn't care, she moved the TV a bit above her hand and then smashed it down. Luckily for her the TV landed right on the window shield of the car with a loud crash.  
Full of adrenaline from the chase, Lexa jumped and landed right next to the car, ripped the door open and pulled Finn out of it. She pulled his arms behind his back, pressed him down with her knee and cuffed his hands.  
  
It had been a dangerous jump but it had worked, that was all that mattered to Lexa. Only later would she realize that her ankle had suffered under that jump.  
  
The crew had left the scene a few minutes after. The FBI hadn't done anything to alert them and the college party seemed to slowly get back into business.  
________  
  
Now that they had all the First Ladies it was time for them to bring them to the monument.  
  
However, Clarke, ever the diligent person, had a weird feeling about this whole case. She didn't know why but she couldn't find any data about the First Ladies. So, when they finally took a break at a gas station, Clarke called Thelonious. "Hello?", he answered after the second ring, "Hey Jaha."  
  
"You get all four?" Clarke left the RV and walked over to the shop, she needed cigarettes and something to eat. "Yeah."  
"Good. Deliver them to the Needles DMV, sundown, the Sam Kinison Monument." It seemed like Jaha got right to the point, it was unusual for him. Usually he would not give them orders like that but usually they also drove to the Los Angeles DMV instead. "Why in the fuck out there?", she wanted to know, pulled the door to the shop open and strolled through the aisles. "Listen, I can't even find any warrants in the system for these four.", she continued with a hushed voice.  
  
"The systems hasn't been updated is all. Don't worry about it.", then a second later, "I've got to go, I'll call you later." With that the call dropped and Clarke sighed audibly. That didn't sound good at all.  
  
She bought a pack of cigarette and walked out again, Raven was still refuelling and the 90210 boys seemed to have gathered a crowd close to the RV, signing some pictures Clarke didn't care about.  
  
It didn't take long for one of the boys to walk over to Clarke, he had a smug smile on his face when he came to a stop in front of her. "Hey." It was Brian, the one that always seemed to talk shit when nobody was watching.  
  
"How you doing?", Clarke asked to make polite small talk and took a drag from her cigarette. "This is all an act, isn't it?", he wanted to know, leaned at the wall next to her. "What is?" Clarke raised an eyebrow at him but he wasn't deterred.  
  
"This...this whole tough chick thing." Clarke tapped the ash of her cigarette before taking another drag. "What makes you so sure?" It seemed like Brian felt confirmed in his theory as his grin only got deeper. "I'm an actor. You can't fake it like we can. You know what I think?"  
  
He looked at her, for a second Clarke wasn't so sure what he was thinking, was he trying to assess her? To see if she would break and tell him, that indeed all was just an act? "I think you're just a scared little girl with some serious daddy issues."  
  
Clarke smiled humourlessly at him and wondered for a second what she had done to deserve to be surrounded by guys like him. Brian, totally oblivious, continuously grinned at her, feeling confirmed.  
  
He might have been right but he also hit a soft spot for Clarke, one that made her furious, one that made her hate other people. And without thinking more about it, Clarke pulled her right hand back and hit Brian right in the face. She felt the pain ripping through her whole arm but the satisfaction coursing through her veins was much better.  
  
Brian's hand flew up to his nose. "Oh, motherfucker!", he howled, pressing his hands closer, unable to contain the blood that dripped through them. "You... you broke my fucking nose."  
  
Clarke threw her cigarette to the floor and just walked away. This guy absolutely wasn't worth it.  
  
_______  
  
Once their RV was filled up they were back on the road again. Clarke was more than ready to finish this job and get over with this whole TV show as well. She hadn't thought it would be this draining.  
Plus, she still had a bad feeling about all this.  
  
Brian and Ian sat in the corner, trying to stop the bleeding. "It's still bleeding.", Ian said after he had removed the tissue and provided a new one. "I can't believe this fucking bitch.", was all Brian had to say about it, before he whined when Ian pressed another tissue to the nose.  
  
A little further from them the trio sat at the table. Clarke was still trying to find any information on their job. "Where are the bond certificates?", she asked Gustus once her search results showed up empty again. "There are no bond certificates.", Gus provided while cleaning up his shotgun, it was some sort activity to pass the time in the RV.  
  
Lexa sat in opposite of him, nursing a beer and watching Clarke. "Thelonious didn't provide them?" Clarke asked, looking up from the papers. "He didn't give me anything." He shrugged, seemed to be not phased at all by this.  
  
After a few minutes Clarke still looked at him unbelievingly, Gus stopped what he was doing and looked at Clarke "Hey, Thelonious said drop the First Ladies off in Needs, go home and don't ask any questions."  
He then proceeded cleaning.  
  
Clarke stared at the papers again, played with the pen idly in her hands. "There's only one reason that we wouldn't have any bond certificates.", she concluded. Her gaze fell on the First Ladies in the back of the RV, all sweaty, insecure as if unsure what had happened to them. "These guys have never been arrested."  
  
She looked back to Gustus who just gave her a quick glance before looking back to his shotgun. Lexa looked over to Clarke, seeing how everything made suddenly sense for her. "Is this an inside job?"  
  
There was nothing said in return, Gus' look said everything there was to know, even Lexa seemed guilty. "Fuck..."  
  
A few hours later they finally reached Needles, the sun was about to go down so they still had a few minutes before they had to leave the car.  
Clarke was still sitting at the table, staring into nothingness. What did it mean that they did an inside job? What kind of consequences would that have? And whom would take the First Ladies?  
  
When Clarke realized a camera was pointing towards her, she just sighed. "Put down the camera." When the camera man didn't budge, Clarke let her frustration out at him. "Turn the fucking camera off!"  
  
Gustus heard Clarke's voice, only quickly looked over his shoulder, before he came to a stop in front of the First Ladies. Jasper was the one that was brave enough to speak. "Uh-oh. What happens now?"  
  
Gustus just grinned and pulled him up by his hair. "The tour is cancelled. Come on, girls move." The other ones followed Gustus without question out of the RV.  
"You drove us all the way to fuckin' Needles to put us in jail?", Finn asked, looking over to Gustus completely confused.  
  
"Turn the fucking camera off.", Clarke repeated once again loudly when Gustus pushed the Ladies out of the RV. It was Lexa who jumped in heroically, at least for Clarke.  
  
She ripped the camera from his hand, let it fall to the floor and pushed the camera guy against the wall of the RV, having a tight hold around his throat. "Didn't you hear her?" Her voice was aggravated, growling. The camera guy stuttered before Lexa let go of him. He left without looking back and Lexa just sighed, looking back at Clarke.  
  
The blonde had her head between her hands, her blonde hair falling into her face. "Fuck.", she mumbled, "Fuck."  
Lexa, unsure about how to handle Clarke like that, just stood next to her, hoping to keep her balanced with her presence.  
  
Gustus had taken care of first the First Ladies and walked them around the RV, only to be face with two big, black cars and roughly 6 people in suits. "Come on, I ain't work this shit.", Jasper complained before he saw the men that were expecting them. "These aren't cops."  
  
"No shit. Watch your mouth. God is listening. We need him now." He led them over to the gentlemen who then took care of the guys, pushing them into the cars. "Pleasure doing business with you.", said one of the penguins and Gustus just nodded.  
  
He watched how the dark cars took off, before he sighed audibly. Gustus wasn't sure what kind of deal Thelonious had made but it felt awfully wrong.  
When he opened the door to the RV, he came across Lexa and Clarke sitting at the table, quietly talking to one another. It seemed like he wasn't the only one feeling bad about this deal. He looked over to Raven who raised her sunglasses when she realized that he was looking at her through the rear-mirror. "Can you bring us to the next motel?"  
  
Raven nodded and started the engine wordlessly.


	7. You wait so long...

They drove in silence. Clarke stared at her goldfishes, one of which had just died, and wondered what it all meant. The last time her goldfish died something bad had happened. They had brought the First Ladies to the agreed destination but it felt like the whole world was going down.   
  
When Raven finally pulled up at the Motel, she looked over her shoulder to Clarke, smiling apologetically and motioned to the door. "We are here.", she mumbled and Gus took this as his que to leave the RV.   
  
Lexa had sat next to Clarke the whole drive, their shoulder bumping together whenever the road got a little rocky. It was the support Clarke needed right now, just feeling that someone was there with her. During the trip she had fallen asleep and was still sleeping when Clarke softly pulled Lexa's hair out of her face. "Lex.", she whispered, still somewhat lost in her thoughts.   
The brunette stirred a little, enjoying the warmth of Clarke's hand slowly scratching her scalp. She sighed, unhappily. "What is it?", she asked quietly, voice rough with sleep.   
  
"We're at the motel.", Clarke pulled her hand from Lexa's hair and pushed herself up from her seat. The brunette finally looked up and watched how Clarke left the RV. She sighed before pushing her hair back.   
  
______   
  
After Clarke and Lexa had left the RV, Ian and Brian took that as their cue to leave the vehicle as well. Brian had spent the majority of the drive talking to his manager, complaining about his broken nose and the fact that he hadn't signed up for such a shit show.   
  
His discontent still present, he sighed loudly when he saw the motel they had stopped at. "Ahh. Why the fuck are we staying in this shithole?", he complained loudly, still feeling the pain of his nose. There had been no painkillers onboard of the RV and so he suffered through it loudly. "This is ridiculous."   
  
Markus who was aware of all the displeasure walked over to his two stars as soon as he saw them. He was ready to make amends, to convince them that this show would help them greatly. "Guys.", he greeted, patting Ian on his shoulder. Right behind him Nylah was carrying his suitcases, cursing as she did. "The footage we captured for that was phenomenal."   
  
Brian scoffed loudly while they walked towards the motel. "Yeah, did you get the broken fuckin' nose?", he asked but Markus just ignored him, followed through with his agenda. "It's gonna jumpstart your careers." Ian, still somewhat motivated, smiled at the prospect. "Fuck, yeah.", he exclaimed.   
  
In contrast to that Brian had none of it. "look at my face.", he said challenging to Markus who stopped to walk next to Brian. "I'm serious.", he repeated but Brian just shook his head. "This is gonna jumpstart my career?"   
  
The TV magnate just nodded. "Oh, it's all good. You need to start thinking more positively." He smiled broadly at Brian who just sighed and took a few quicker steps to catch up with Ian. At least he was his best friend, he'd rather complain to him instead of talking to Markus who apparently just saw the money he could earn with the show.   
  
Once the pair reached their room, Ian looked over to Brian, assessing his friend. "You know what? We need to celebrate." A broad smile formed on his lips. "We need to go to, like, a strip club." Brian rose his eyebrow at that and opened the door to the room. He thought about it for a moment and a little alcohol combined with beautiful ladies did indeed sound like a good idea. "All right."   
______   
  
Gus, feeling the change of the atmosphere, had booked a separate room for Lexa and Clarke this time. It seemed something was brooding inside of Clarke, ready to be unleashed and he preferred it did not happen while they were still up and about with the TV team.   
  
Clarke found solace in being alone in her hotel room. She was currently sitting in front of the toilet, her dead goldfish in her hand. Since her father had won her one when she still had been a kid, goldfishes always had been some sort of connection to her old men. She even had one tattooed on the right side of her neck.   
  
Whenever one of them died, she felt a deep pain inside her, felt as if another memory of her father had gotten lost. She caressed the fish one last time with tears in her eyes. She knew something awful was about to happen. She could feel in her bones.   
  
She took the fish by its tail and slowly dropped it into the toilet, before she flushed it away with tears in her eyes. She bit her bottom lip and let a silent tear makes its way over her cheek.   
  
Meanwhile Lexa stood in front of her hotel room. She had felt earlier that Clarke seemed fragile. Usually she would never indulge in such a display of softness. Of course, they had been close for quite a while now but Clarke never became soft. It worried Lexa which was why she was standing here now.   
  
She took a deep breath, leaned against the wall next to the room – at least trying to appear collected and cool when in reality she was a nervous mess – and knocked.   
  
Clarke, still sitting in her bathroom, slowly got up, her face still a little puffy and made her way over to the door. Lexa, being as nervous as she was, knocked once again and moved away from the door, overthinking the situation. Maybe she shouldn't have come here, maybe it would have been better if she let Clarke alone. She had rarely encountered the blonde being a mess, usually she always seemed to be strong even if her eyes told a whole different story.   
  
So, when Clarke opened the door, eyes puffy and red, Lexa felt all her nervousness falling away, instead worry took its place. "What?", Clarke asked, her voice a little rough, "What?"   
  
Lexa moved closer. "Yu kei?", she asked, searching Clarke's face for any indication of what was wrong with her but Clarke just looked at Lexa like she always did when Lexa didn't speak English, just today with a little more frustration than usual. "Chit don kom au?", she wanted to know, "Dula du don lasken yu?"   
  
The concern in her voice grew the longer she spoke, unable to think clear. What if something had happened to Clarke? Maybe one of those guys they were traveling with had tried something. "Op du don lasken yu ai na frag em op, kei?"   
  
Clarke looked down, the tears still apparent in her eyes and tried to blink them away. "Do you mind if I asked you a question?" She looked up, right in Lexa's worried face. Anyone who could see her now would know that she would do anything for Clarke. "Sha."   
  
Clarke took a deep breath, her voice wavering a little. "Do I look like I speak Trigedasleng?" Her voice defeated, beaten. "Do I look Grounder to you? I don't understand a word you're fucking saying." Lexa pulled her hair backed and looked a little sheepish at Clarke's word. "No.", she said, even if Clarke seemed to ignore it. "You know what?" Her voice grew more confident and louder the more Clarke spoke, it was obvious that she was in pain. And maybe her words were aimed to hurt Lexa too, so that they would suffer together. "Gus's right. It's not cute. It's not fucking cute!"   
  
Lexa was unable to say anything, just nodded in understanding. "It's never been fucking cute, Lexa. I don't fucking understand you." Clarke seemed to be fierce, the desperation, the reality of being unable to do anything about their situation, broke through her, directly aimed at Lexa.   
  
She grabbed the door. "You're a freak.", she almost screamed at her when she threw the door shut, leaving Lexa behind. The brunette stared at the door for a moment, felt how the anger rose inside herself, too. How was it that Clarke never let her close? How was she unable to talk in English to Clarke when it actually would have mattered?   
  
She growled at herself, at the fact that Clarke always shut her out, especially when it was about feelings, about closeness. She hated it, hated that she couldn't help Clarke. No matter how close they had gotten over the months, how much understanding they had about love. The reality was that Lexa was head over heels for Clarke and she couldn't deny it. The blonde had taken her heart months ago even if they had sworn one another that love was weakness, that it made no sense to get attached. It had happened.   
  
The brunette kicked at the wall, trying to control her anger and stalked away loudly. Down the stairs over to Gustus room, she needed someone to talk to, someone she could be mad at and Gustus seemed to be the right person.   
  
Said man was just lounging in his bed, watching porn. He slowly moved up from his lying position and looked over to Lexa who threw her jacket in the corner and walked in front of the TV, full of anger. "Man, they never show the cum shots in these shitbag motels.", Gustus complained, clearly trying to diffuse the strained atmosphere.   
  
Lexa just stopped in her tracks, looked over to Gustus than to the TV, watched the awful porno and looked back over to Gustus before she grabbed a chair and threw it into the TV, trashing it right away.   
Gustus, not surprised by Lexa's blow up, just leaned back. "Jesus Christ, Lexa, I just got done paying 12.95 for this movie." Lexa let herself fall against a dresser and pushed her hair back, slowly pulling it up into a messy bun. "I'm never gonna know how it ends."   
  
Lexa's nostrils flared up at his words, she held up a finger in warning. "Don't fuck with me, Gus.", she threatened, clearly fighting to keep herself under control. "Listen, Lexa, don't go goddamn King Kong on me, okay? If you want to be alone... if you need me, I'll tell you what...", he looked up, over to the brunette who was still struggling with herself. "I'll be in Clarke's room. I'll be makin' up my own ending." Gus got up from the bed and pulled a little at his jeans, motioning for Lexa what he intended to do up there.   
  
It seemed like that triggered Lexa's temperament. She moved up quickly and pushed Gustus back into the bed. "Shut up." The big man just let himself fall and got up slowly again, levelling Lexa with a look. "Come on, girl. I'm gonna whip your ass, and them I'm gonna whip your goddamn girlfriend's ass."   
They stood closely in front of one another, face to face. It took only a second for Gustus to grab Lexa's shoulder and push her to the side.   
  
Lexa stumbled a little before she ripped out her gun and pointed it towards Gustus' face. "Do it!", she challenged him. "Do it." Gustus moved back, pushing the gun softly to the side. "Hey, wait a minute...calm down." He sat back on the bed, still looking at Lexa cautiously. "What are you doing, girl? Over this?"   
  
Lexa's eyes were bloodshot already, her hands slightly trembling while she still pointed the gun towards Gus. "Go ahead, pull it. Pull the fuckin' trigger." Lexa trembled, the gun wavering slightly in front of Gustus. "I'll fucking pull it." She wasn't sure if she was trying to convince herself or Gustus but she did not back down. "I know it comes easy to a fucker like you."   
  
Gustus was a strong man, had experienced a lot of shit in his life. A single gun pointed towards him didn't scare him anymore. Plus, he knew Lexa, knew that the woman wasn't as hard as she pretended to be. They were like family to one another. "You think I don't know what the fuck's goin' on?", he asked after they had stared at one another for quite some time, Lexa still pointing the gun.   
  
She made a noise that sounded like curiosity, like she wanted to know what Gustus was talking about, so Gus continued. "Let me tell you something.", he motioned towards his feet, in particular pointing towards his missing toe. "You see this?", he asked, "There was no prison riot. I blew off my own goddamn toe. Just to numb the pain."   
  
Gustus looked up at Lexa again, saw how tear's streaked down her face. "Let me tell you something...", his voice suddenly soft, full of understanding, "We all get weak over woman." Lexa brushed the tears away, her breathing slightly stuttering. "We all get weak over woman.", Gustus repeated once again, reliving the pain he had felt when the woman he had loved had cheated on him with his best friend.   
  
"Fuckin' broads are all nuts. They know how to kill us. And this kid in there...", he motioned towards the ceiling, "she's killin' you." Lexa licked her lips, her eyes still red, her emotions reflected in them. Slowly she let go of the trigger and put the weapon down.   
  
She sniffled quietly and threw the weapon towards the bed, unable to tear her eyes away from Gus. He looked up at her with a sad smile, motioning next to him. Without second thought Lexa moved over and sat down, hiding her face behind her hands. "'m sorry.", she mumbled but Gustus just padded her back. "I know... I know."   
  
______   
  
Chit don kom au? - What happened?   
Dula du don lasken yu? - Did someone hurt you?   
Op du don lasken yu ai na frag em op, kei? - If someone hurt you, I will kill them, okay?   
  
______   
  
A few kilometres away from them, the four First Ladies where standing in line, their hands cuffed, in front of a huge bridge. The fear was visible on their faces, Jasper was outright crying.   
In front of them stood three men, two of them with machine guns at the ready, the other stood next to the car, smoking a cigarette.   
  
They were waiting for a phone call, for further instructions on the matter. When the phone finally did ring, everyone around them turned silent. The guy with the cigarette threw it on the floor and put the phone to his ear. "Sir.", he greeted, calmness in his voice.   
"You want me to shoot 'em in the kneecaps?", he joked slightly though the possibility was obviously there.   
  
"No, you listen to me.", said the person on the other side of the phone. Through the speaker it could be heard how a match was lighted. "Hold on one second." The caller, and it wasn't surprising at all, was Carl Emerson, Wallace's lawyer. "Ask them politely where the money is.", he instructed, "If they don't know, just tell them to start digging their own graves."   
  
The gunman nodded on the other side of the phone. "Okay." And with that the call disconnected.   
  
______   
  
On the other side a few slightly panicked college kids were discussing what had happened to their party and how they hadn't realized that Bellamy and Finn had gotten kidnapped, literally in front of their eyes.   
  
Only one of them seemed to be collected enough to make a phone call, one of utter importance. "Yeah. Hello?", a male voice answered and the college student almost stuttered over his next words. "Mr. Cigliutti?"   
  
There was a hum indicating approval before the student continued. "I'm calling from the Zeta Theta Theta house." Titus raised an eyebrow questiongly, why would the sorority of his sons call him?   
"Yes, yes. What is it?", he wanted to know harshly. His voice seemed to intimidate his caller even more. "I'm sorry to be bothering you. It's a bit of an emergency."   
  
Titus patience run out the very moment he presumed that his sons were in danger. "What?" The college student cleared his throat, took a deep breath to draw some strength and spoke the next words quickly into the phone. "Your sons have been kidnapped by these crazy game show hosts from the WB network."   
  
Titus who had lounged a few minutes ago, sat himself up straight, his voice full of anger. "Wait, wait wait. My sons Bellamy and Finn have been kidnapped?" The caller nodded, even if Titus couldn't see it. "Yeah, I'm afraid so."   
  
_______   
  
As it turned out, the whole story Jaha had sold them was actually a hoax. One planned by him. The three sassy woman and Nathan were the real First Ladies. So, when Roan came to a stop at the gas station, ready to buy some drinks and refuel the van, inside of the van hell broke loose.   
  
Everyone pulled of their masks and looked over to Indra, Nathan was the first one to speak. "What now?", he asked, "I don't know.", Indra replied with a sigh and looked out through the window. Roan was still inside, searching the isles for something to eat probably.   
  
It's Indra's phone that brought the attention back to the real First Ladies. Indra flipped the phone open and pressed it to her ear, "Hello?", she asked only to be greeted by Jaha. "Indra!"   
"Where are you?!" On the other side of the phone Indra could hear the sounds of a car, it clicked and then she almost heard the car pulling up. "I'm pullin' up right now. Evacuate the van, Indra. Plans have changed. We set up the wrong guys."   
  
The four guys they had nabbed were just Indra's patsies. Some guys who had come to the DMV at the wrong time. It was Indra's sorry luck they were connected to the mob.   
  
Jaha jumped out of the car. "Get out!", he called through the phone, "Get out of the car!", before he ended the call and the real First Ladies made their way over to Jaha's car. It only took a few seconds for them to get seated and Jaha pulled off the gas station without looking back. Leaving a confused Roan behind.   
  
Once they were a few minutes from the gas station away, Jaha finally took a deep breath, relieved that he had gotten them out of the car fast enough, otherwise it could have ended badly. "You have fucked us so bad.", he told Indra who just looked over to him, a scowl in place.   
"I fucked up?" Jaha only shortly looked over to her, shaking his head. "You heard me."   
  
Indra was having none of them, she had risked her life for this plan. She had done everything she could to get them out safely. "You can't help your black, greedy, lyin' ass from tryin' to get every fuckin' thing. All you did is put a death sentence on my grandbaby. That's all you did."   
  
Jaha, remaining calm, just shook his head. "Indra, you even know what I was trying to do?", he looked over, Indra already looking back at him. "What?" She took a deep breath; her temperament was showing and she wasn't sure how to calm down. "What was you tryin' to do, Thelonious?", called Vera from the back, her voice loud. Nygel joined in with her and all Jaha could do was to leash out at them. "Shut the fuck up! Everybody!"   
  
Indra who had just listened to them arguing with Jaha, finally stepped in, her voice dark and angry. "Oh, now you mad because you fucked up!" Thelonious would have pulled the car over somewhere if they weren't trying to flee from the scene right now. He couldn't handle those women and their angry tones. Things had gone wrong, terribly so. He knew that himself but that didn't mean that he couldn't be angry. "Who told you to get those boys involved?"   
  
"What else did you want me to do?", she asked, still angry. It was Nathans calm voice that stopped the discussion. "Let's just go home."   
  
_______   
  
Clarke was still sitting in her motel room, alone. Lexa had not come back to her, it made sense. After she had called her a freak there was no way Lexa would come back. She was proud, too. Clarke knew first hand.   
  
She lit another cigarette, took a deep drag and blew out the smoke slowly, watching how it dissolved in the air. She hadn't felt this bad in a long time, over the course of the last few hours she had smoked more cigarettes than the whole week. A low sigh escaped her lips when she looked out of the window, seeing the RV parked in front of the building. Why did it feel like the big storm was still ahead of them?   
  
Clarke had no time to ponder on that question any longer as her phone started ringing. Jaha's number flashed up.   
"Hi." Her voice sounded foreign in her own head, she wondered why it sounded this tired. "Clarke, we got a problem?"   
  
She held her breath, those were the words she had been waiting for. Unfortunately that also meant that her gut feeling had been right. "The FBI was breathin' down Indra's neck, so she assumed they were onto the scam...the fake ID scam." Thelonious was talking without any break and Clarke didn't dare to interrupt him. She bide ill.   
  
"These kids have been under FBI surveillance for the last 6 months.", he concluded, Clarke could hear his heavy breath. He seemed just as worried as Clarke felt. "What happened to them?"   
  
"I don't know, they might be dead already.", his voice low, "There's something else you should know about these kids. They're Mafia kids, Cigliutti's kids." Clarke dropped the cigarette in shock, "Jesus Christ.", she exclaimed, her head running through all the consequences this had. "Wait, what? Titus Cigliutti? Fuck, Jaha.   
  
Clarke wasn't sure if the news could get any worse, her brain already making up all the things that a mafia boss would do to them, a merciful death wasn't one of them. "You've so fucked us up. You set me up to deliver...", she made a pause, felt how the anger rose inside of her, "fucking Mafia crime boss children to be executed."   
  
Jaha sighed into the phone, stopped Clarke's tirade. "Just relax. Just follow my instructions and we all walk away from this clean.", he promised.   
  
Jahre laid itall out on the table.His plan was to ask fora $300,000 finder's feeto recover the 10 million he'd already stolen.The whole thing became a huge clusterfuckwhen Indra tried to pin iton the Cigliutti kids.   
  
Now their only chance for survival was to stay on course and retrieve the money.   
After the phone called had ended, Clarke packed her clothes back into her bag, shouldered it and walked over to the stairs. She was almost running, the adrenaline from this clusterfuck still meddling with her.   
She rapped against Raven's door. "Raven, come on, we got to leave." The brunette opened the door seconds later but Clarke wasn't in front of her door anymore. She had walked to the other two door, rapped against them and called for Gustus and Lexa.   
  
Their first priority was to cut loose the television crewand sabotage the footage. They couldn't leaveany evidence behind. So she looked over to Raven who stood a little sleepily in front of her door.   
  
"Raven, go grab all the footage,every tape you see. Come on!", she was swirling around, to nervous to actually stop. When Gustus and Lexa finally emerged, fully clothed and just as tired as Raven, she turned towards them. "We gotta go find Locus Fender.He knows exactly where the money is. We find the money, we return it to Bishop, we're in the clear. Come on!" While she instructed them, they slowly walked towards her, not even questioning what was wrong.   
  
Clarke seemed like she was over her head, very unusual for her. Though she tended to be light tempered that didn't mean that she would boss them around for nothing. She almost jumped towards the car. "Come on!", she called out once again, finally getting Raven out of her trance.   
  
The brunette took off towards the RV of the film crew, ready to fulfil Clarke's request. She had a special surprise to the footage in mind. So, while Raven was taking care of the film material, Clarke and the rest got into their RV, ready to take off whenever Raven returned.   
  
She knew in her heart of hearts that they should've stopped when her goldfish died. It was a sign from a higher power, she knew it but right now, she couldn't do anything about it.   
Showing no signs of patience, Clarke sounded the RVs horn and called out for Raven who appeared a second after, running back towards their RV. "For fuck's sake, Raven! Where the fuck are the tapes?"   
  
Raven just looked over to her, a bright grin on her lips, before she got into the driver's seat, started the car and drove a few metres, just to bring distance between them, before she activated what she had placed in the RV.   
  
With a loud bang the RV burst into flames. "Really, Raven?", Clarke asked, smiling for the first time since she had gotten the phonecall. The brunette just shrugged with her shoulders and grinned happily at her.   
  
_________   
  
Based on Jaha's plan they would join forces with Nygel and Vera. It was all easy enough. Roan, suddenly a rich man after they had stolen the money, spent his night in a strip club close-by. He sat in one of the chairs, watching how women danced around, bent in the right places and just enjoyed himself.   
  
That was the moment Nygel and Vera came into place. They walked over to Roan, clad in tight clothes, hopefully making Roan believe that they were indeed part of the ladies in this establishment. "You want a lap dance?", Nygel asked, a huge smile on her lips. "Yeah.", he said, dreamingly looking up to them, not hiding the fact that he loved the view in front of him. "Tonight we have a 2-for-1 special for these luscious tits."   
  
Nygel even went a little bit farther, pressing her breasts in Roan's face to finally convince him and apparently that did the trick. "Come on, baby.", Vera called over to him, pulling him to the back into one of their rooms backstage. They did not need any bystanders.   
  
The moment Roan walked through the curtains, ready to receive his lap dance, Lexa took hold of his long, sleazy hair, pulled him back and pressed him face first into the courch. "What's goin' on? What the fuck? I didn't do anything.", Roan shouted loudly, clearly totally overwhelmed by the situation. Lexa wasn't having any of it and just pressed him further into the couch.   
  
Clarke reached between Lexa's arms and took hold of Roan's wrist, securing them with the handcuffs. Only then did Lexa pull him back up again, one look of her was enough to silence Roan.   
Defeated he let himself being led out by Lexa.   
  
Clarke and Gustus followed the pair slowly. It was Gustus who saw Ian and Brian first, they were sitting at the bar, talking animatedly. He leaned over to Clarke, his voice almost a whisper. "We need hostages.", he slightly pointed towards the guys at the bar. "Celebrity hostages."   
  
With a nod, Clarke moved over to the bar, came to a stop next to Brian and put an arm around his shoulder. Gustus did the same, just between the two of them a huge smile on his face. "Hey guys, how are you doing?"   
  
"You alright?", Clarke asked, smiling broadly at Brian. It didn't took them much convincing to board the RV again. It was easy to pretend that they would move to the next target, that the film crew was already on their way.   
  
And that was how Roan Fender had gotten into their RV and how they had suddenly found themselves with hostages.   
_________   
  
After talking to Roan they had found out that the money was at the compound. It was easy to persuade him into talking, he knew something had gone wrong and maybe he had expected people to show up. Nobody stole 10 million and got off with it.   
  
"Clarke, Clarke, now, listen to me.", Jaha's voice echoed through the speaker of the phone, static sound enveloping it. They were somewhere on the interstate, the connection was awful and Clarke was lucky if the voice rung through at all. "The combination code is tattooed on his right arm. You will never get inside Edna Fender's safe unless you have the code breaker on that arm. Understand?"   
  
Clarke barely understood, there was something with his arm, a code. She wasn't sure what kind of code but she got that it was deemed important. "You're breaking up. I can't hear you." The static got louder the further they drove. Clarke wasn't sure where exactly they were but cell service was awful out here. She pressed the phone a little closer to her ear, hoping to understand the instructions of Jaha a little better.   
  
"Listen, Edna's armed and dangerous...", his voice broke through, surrounded by static that got louder any second. "So, don't fuck around." The phone pressed even harder against her ear, she tried to make out what Jaha had just said but it was to no avail. "What?"   
  
"Remove the right arm.", was all she got but that couldn't be right. Jaha couldn't expect them to remove Roan's arm. "What?"   
Jaha on the other side of the phone, made sure to speak slowly so that Clarke would understand him. "You're breaking up.", her clear voice rung through. No static.   
  
So, Jaha tried once again to explain to Clarke what they had to do. "Remove his shirt from his upper right arm. You'll find the combination inside the tattoo on his arm. You got me?"   
  
Clarke hadn't understood anything and the moment she wanted to ask once again, the connection broke up completely. She pulled the phone down and stared at it. Did Jaha really asked them to remove the right arm?   
  
She got up from the front seat where she had taken the call and slowly walked back to their table. Slowly, without looking anywhere but to the floor, she sat down with her back next to Lexa.   
  
Gustus was the first to realize the phone call had been ended and looked over to Clarke full of question. "What did he say?" Clarke, still staring at the phone, heaved a heavy sigh before she looked up, disbelievingly. "He said, 'Remove the right arm'."   
  
Silence enveloped them and Gustus looked over to Lexa. They stared at one another for a few seconds, before Lexa slowly began to nod and squeezed her eyes shut for a second. This situation was fucked up and there was only one thing that could solve it. She had to do it. There was no other way. The distress Clarke emitted was so strong that Lexa had the strong desire to pull her into a tight hug and protect her from the world.   
  
The brunette didn't make a word, the drank the rest of her coffee, pushed herself up and grabbed the shotgun that was hanging above Gustus head. She checked if the gun was properly loaded, looked over to Clarke and nodded before she turned around to go to the back of the RV.   
  
Raven made eye-contact with Lexa for a second, something unspoken was exchanged between the two of them, until Raven reached out to the volume control of the radio and turned it all the way up.   
  
Clarke's eyes flew from Raven to Lexa who was just about to grab Roan's arm forward and leaned pressed the barrel of her shotgun against his shoulder. Her eyes told him that she was sorry, that she had no other choice but to do what she was about to do.   
  
The loud music drowned out the screams coming from Roan as the first bullet crushed through his skin, drowned out everything else around them. It took Lexa several minutes but once she was done, she dropped the weapon next to Roan, wiped with the back of her hand over her face to get rid of the blood and got back to the front of the RV.   
  
No word was exchanged. Only Gustus pulled down his sunglasses, leaned back, deliberately ignoring the screams from the back and nodded towards Lexa.   
The brunette returned the sentiment and got down on her seat once again as if nothing had happened.   
  
_________   
  
Once Clarke's voice, heavy of emotion, faded out, Anya took a moment to assess the blonde. She still seemed heavily affected by the events that had happened inside of the RV. It surely couldn't be a lie either, Clarke was sweating profusely and even if her eyes told Anya that she hadn't given up, that this was over and she lived with it, she could see the tremble in her hands, could see how pale she was in reality.   
  
"So, now we're back where we started.", Anya stated, only to give Clarke the opportunity to leave this traumatizing event behind her. Clarke's blue eyes snapped up from the floor, back to Anya. "We sure are." A small sigh escaped her lips. It did not get better after that.   
  
"We found the money in the safe, it was all there."   
  
__________   
  
Nia pulled open the door of the safe and the money tumbled out to the floor. All involved watched the movement of the money until it receded. Gustus couldn't help but smile. This meant their journey was almost over, they were almost done with this trip to hell.   
  
"That's a lot to carry.", he said, his weight leaned on top of the open safe door. Nia ignored Gustus, just took the arm, gave its hand a kiss and moved over to the kitchen counter.   
Gustus just shook his head at her behaviour before he turned around to her. "How about a pot of coffee, Edna?It's gonna be a long night."   
  
Nia nodded and started the coffee machine standing next to her. While the coffee was running through the squad started to put the money in bags and carried it over to the RV.   
  
Unfortunately for them, it seemed like Nia had one last trick up her sleeve. Once she filled the coffee into a Thermos, she took out a small can full of white powder. "Cocksuckers gonna pay.", she mumbled and put four tablespoons of the white powder into the coffee. Turned out it was mescaline.   
  
Once the team had gotten into the RV and took off, the freshly brewed coffee was shared between all of them. Silently they sipped from the coffee, desperately awaiting Jaha's phone call. A call they never realized had come through thirty minutes later.   
  
With each passing second,reality eclipsedinto the asphalt horizon. Soon, the mescaline waspulsing through their veins. Making them unable to move. Lexa and Clarke were sitting closely together, Lexa drawing small shapes on Clarke's arm while she had just closed her eyes. The world around her was too quick, too blurry. She was unable to concentrate on anything. Until Lexa leaned in, close to her ear. She felt the hot breath, felt her soft lips a second later.   
  
For a moment Lexa was all Clarke could concentrate on but it seemed like she was so far away, too far to grasp. The blonde reached out and met Lexa's hand in the middle who smiled at her softly. They shared a silence moment with one another, just green eyes meeting blue and for this very moment nothing else mattered.   
  
Lexa pulled Clarke closer to her, enveloping her in a hug, pressing her body close to her own. Clarke buried her face deeply into the nook of Lexa's neck and breathed her in. This felt like home, like finally being at peace.   
  
Up at the front someone surely wasn't at peace at all. The RV swerved about and Raven felt helpless, like the steering wheel did not react to her movements or if it did then it took too long and so the RV was uncontrollably dashing down the narrow streets.   
  
It could have taken forever or not long at all, none of the occupants could really tell but suddenly the RV swung off the road, right into the sand and bushed at the side and crushed against a huge stone before the wheels lost their grip and the RV flung itself on the side.   
  
_________   
  
Anya raised an eyebrow at Clarke's explanation, it seemed reasonable that that could have happened but she believed that the reality had been something else, that they had celebrated their success with drugs instead of calling Jaha to close the job for them.   
  
It was common and known about Clarke that she had consumed drugs in her life, it wasn't surprising at all, if anything it confirmed what they knew about her.   
  
"Your blood test confirms that there is mescaline in your system, but I'm guessing it's nothing new.", she started while reading the results of the blood test they had done a few hours prior. "It's not unusual for someone like you pampered her whole lifeto indulge in drugsas a coping mechanism.Not living up to your expectations." Anya looked up, over to Clarke, making sure that she could see the reaction Clarke would have to her words. All Anya wanted was to challenge Clarke, to make her stumble so she would spill the beans eventually. The truth was important in this case, it would influence the outcome greatly. So, she did the only thing she could. She was getting person. "Certainly not up to your mother's.You know you're a heartbreak to her,don't you?"   
  
Clarke took another drag from her cigarette and sighed. "You lost everything that belongs to you. You can take responsibility for it, or not.Either way, you've gotno one to blame but yourself."   
_______   
  
They stumbled out of the car, the drugs slowly leaving their system and all Clarke could do was cry, she felt like her feelings were overwhelming her. The disaster of a case had churned old feelings. The fact that they had almost killed a man by cutting of his arm, that they had caught teenager and were responsible for their death, even though those had be innocent.   
  
There were so many more thoughts that swirled through her mind but one was the most prominent, she had failed everyone she loved, the job, the exit she had tried to make with it, she had failed that to. Suddenly all she could see was that she was a failure and that the other had been right. She wasn't as tough as she seemed to be.   
  
Her heart was beating strongly for everyone close to her. For Gustus, her father figure, for Raven who was the weird friend she never thought she would have and for Lexa, god, did it beat strongly for Lexa.   
  
She felt a hand softly squeezing her shoulder and looked up to find Lexa looking down at her. Her shirt still sprinkled with blood, her hair a wild mess, her eyes swollen and red. But no matter how she looked like right now, all Clarke was see, was a saviour, was an angel.   
  
The soft smile at the corner of Lexa's lips, the sad look full of understanding, it was all Clarke needed to finally break down. She pulled the brunette down by her shirt and threw herself into her arms. Lexa didn't waver but pressed the blonde against herself, hoping to take the pain away that lie dormant inside of Clarke's heart.   
  
"Lexa...", Clarke mumbled, clinging to her like she was her lifeline. As the desperation grew inside her, she moved her lips closer to Lexa's pulse point, kissed the soft, salty skin, kissed up to her jaw. Lexa's hand found hold on in Clarke's neck, making Clarke stop in her movement.   
  
She looked up at her, her blue eyes full of sorrow, full of regret. She leaned forward, pressed her lips against Lexa's, felt the warmth radiating off her. All she needed right now was to be close to her, she needed to feel Lexa's strongly beating heart, needed her touch, needed to feel alive.   
  
The brunette returned the kiss with desperation herself, her longing almost overwhelming her. Once the kiss broke, Clarke finally took in a deep breath and looked at Lexa, let her hand wander over her cheek, drew the shape of her jaw and just looked, looked into the forest green eyes that promised salvation, promised refuge.   
  
A small sigh broke through her lips, the soft air brushing against Lexa's lips. The brunette let her hand wander through Clarke's mane, outlined the tattoo on her neck before she leaned in to steal another kiss. A soft one, followed by another while Lexa's hands softly caressed Clarke's skin, drew patterns, memorized the soft feel of her skin against her calloused hands. And Clarke just melted against her, pressed her body as close as possible.   
  
And for this moment it felt like everything else was invalid, meaningless, everything but them. Her hands followed the path from Lexa's hair down to her side until she reached the hem of her shirt. As if reading her thoughts, Lexa pulled her shirt over her head, only shortly breaking the soft kisses, they were sharing, before her own sought out Clarke's once again.   
  
"Lexa...", Clarke breathed once again, like a mantra, as if it grounded her in this moment, in Lexa.   
"Shh, Clarke. I'm here.", she whispered against kissed-swollen lips, her eyes connected with Clarke's. For a moment she considered staying in this moment with Clarke, somewhere in the desert, without anyone around to watch them. Gustus, Brian, Raven, Ian – they were all forgotten, just for this moment in time, this small pocket, nothing else mattered.   
  
Lexa softly pulled Clarke up with her into a standing position. Clarke's legs wavered slightly, the adrenaline and mescaline slowly leaving her body, but Lexa pulled her against her, supported her body weight with her own. As if in a fever dream Lexa led them over to a save spot, she sat Clarke on a small boulder and gathered everything they needed.   
  
With a soft blanket thrown around her shoulders, she sat down behind Clarke, kissed her neck and pulled her in, enveloped the blonde with her warmth like a safety net.   
They stayed like that for hours, neither of them knew how long exactly, just that Clarke gave in to the sleep much earlier than Lexa did.


	8. Cleanse yourself

Neither of the crew knew how long they spent in the desert. Their thoughts and perception still clouded by the drugs. But Clarke swore that at some point a guy with a cabriolet came to a stop next to the crash site.   
The RV was lying on the back, half of it wrecked, the wheels pointing towards the sky. On top of it was Raven, sitting cross-legged while staring into the distance.   
  
There was nothing around them, nothing apart from dry land. The street was winding its way through small hills, not one car in sight. Raven sighed. Her headache growing by the minute. She wasn't sure how long they would stay here or if that was their end, but if it was, it felt only fitting.   
  
Most of their electronic devices had been wrecked as well, only Brian had managed to make a phone call with someone called David, a friend, who was a priest from a nearby town but so far nothing had followed that phone call.   
  
Raven's gaze fell over the remaining people, the ones she had spent the last month with. Though they didn't talk much, they were her friends, in a weird twisted way. She loved Clarke's laugh, her way to see the world, the way she seemed so badass but was incredibly soft when they spent the night in the same hotel room because Lexa and Clarke had fought.   
  
And Lexa, well, she didn't like the brunette. She was impulsive, put Clarke's needs over everything and seemed far too protective of anything. Sometimes Raven wondered if she had grown up in the wild, ready to do anything to survive in this cruel world. But still, in some weird way, Lexa seemed like a sister to her. They had their back if it was necessary.   
  
Raven sighed again, twisted her leg a little and felt the pain rushing through her body, a hiss escaping her lips. It surely wasn't a good sign that she couldn't feel much in the lower part of it. But it didn't matter, they were lost in the wild anyway.   
  
A low rumble below her, grabbed her attention and it was Gustus who looked up at her. He had secured the driver's seat out of the wreck, his shirt was torn from the accident, some blood had dried on it. On his forehead there seemed to be a small wound which he ignored expertly.   
  
"You okay there, Raven?", he asked, the concern clear in his voice. "Yeah, yeah, everything's alright.", she answered, looking back up to the road. "You've got to get that leg checked out."   
  
Raven scoffed, of course Gustus had seen her struggle when she climbed up the RV. He was perceptive like that. "Don't worry about it."   
  
Brian and Ian sat on stones, staring down at the floor, probably having lost all hope that had been in them.   
  
Far away from the group, behind some big boulders, where Lexa and Clarke. They were still tangled in blankets on the floor, still almost half asleep, still in their own little bubble.   
Lexa's played softly with Clarke's hand who had the eyes closed and enjoyed the feeling of being safe. For her this accident had stripped her bare, all the feelings she had dwelled on for so long, had finally found the surface and led to Clarke falling apart.   
Lexa had picked her up, carefully and safely, had held her when she needed it the most. And she still did.   
  
Lexa started lowly humming a tune that Clarke didn't know but it calmed her down so much, that she almost fell asleep again.   
It was Raven's voice that ripped her out of her slumber. "There's someone coming.", she called over. Clarke opened her eyes, only to be met by Lexa's who smiled down at her. The bubble still intact for them.   
  
Brian took the news much differently, he jumped up with newly found energy and walked over to the street. Next to it, a cabriolet came to a stop and out of it came a guy clad in ropes, holding up the bible.   
Brian reached him first, grabbed his face and littered it with kisses. "David, thank god."   
  
David pulled back from Brian, ignoring his euphoria and spun in front of the crash site. "Miracles. You're all miracles.", his voice loud and clear. When he caught sight of Clarke and Lexa on the floor, he stopped and zoomed in on him.   
  
With eager steps he walked towards the pair and fell down on his knees, looking deep into Clarke's sleepy eyes. "What's your name?", he asked, not breaking eye-contact. Lexa and Clarke sat up a little bit, Lexa's grip on Clarke's hip tightening instinctively. "Clarke."   
  
He nodded in understanding, seemed like he was ready to pull Clarke closer to him, just to see more of the soul he saw through her eyes. "I know you."   
  
Clarke's eyes focused on David a little better when he held up a coin in his hand. Head's you live, tails you die. It seemed like fate, like something in her life had led her to this very moment.   
She took the coin from his head and turned it around, looking at it from all sides. What did that mean?   
  
David nodded, like he had found what he had been looking for, and sat down on the floor. "You're the angel of fire.", he said, still looking at Clarke. "You burn bright enough to know there are certain sacrifices that need to be made."   
  
Clarke sat up completely, he back against the boulder behind her and Lexa finally relaxed. Clarke seemed to be in a better shape now, much more collected than before.   
She sighed, only shortly getting Clarke's attention, and let her body relax. The exhaustion she had fought just to stay awake for Clarke, finally overcame her. With some small adjustments, she lied down, her head in Clarke's lap.   
Without looking down, she let her hair wander through Lexa's brown curls.   
  
David did take notice of it but favoured to ignore it. He had bigger things to deliver. Nobody questioned why he knew it, the drugs still in their system made everything plausible.   
  
"You see, if you don't give back the money, you all will die. And you will die contorted, and you will die unforgiven." His voice deep but sad while he looked at Clarke. Lexa, unable to fall asleep while he spoke, looked over to him, only to realise that he had yet to break eye-contact with Clarke. He seemed to be in trance while he experienced what he was telling them abut.   
  
"You see, there's... there's this...this puzzle, and at the centre of this puzzle,there's a child,and this is a very sick child. But this child will bea great leader someday." Finally, he broke eye-contact, as if coming back from a vision, and looked down at his hands. It seemed like he was just processing what he had said.   
  
A few minutes passed by, nobody said anything, Clarke was just staring ahead, not focusing on anything. She knew exactly what David was talking about. She had heard about it from Indra the other day, at the party. "Do you know the child I speak of?" David asked and Clarke looked up at him. "Yes."   
  
Gaia. The poor child that was doomed to die because the health insurance didn't cover grandchildren and Wells was far too young to be insured himself. "Well, you have only one destiny,and that destiny is...that you must offer your livesin exchange for the life of the child.Then, and only then,will you truly be cleansedin the blood of the lamb."   
  
Clarke had never been faithful, not until now but his prophecy seemed like the only way out. The mess they had been in wasn't solved yet. They had the money, somewhere in the RV, hopefully not burned in any way. They had celebrity hostages who slowly but surely lost their minds, if Ian praying next to them was any indication. There was still Jaha, counting on them, and Indra and Gaia.   
  
"Take us to Las Vegas."   
  
Later, nobody would be able to tell if David had actually been there or the drugs had just worn off and Clarke began thinking clearly again. But truth be told a car had arrived at the crash site, it had been someone Brian knew and he had taken them back to Las Vegas. And that was all that counted.   
  
_______   
  
In Las Vegas, at Cigliutti's property, one of his substitutes was on the phone underneath the shielding device, talking to one their informants. They had finally gotten information about the whereabouts of Bellamy and Finn.   
  
"The FBI is out here right now...excavating the bodies. Wallace's guys killed Bellamy and Finn." With that final information the line went dead and the substitute left the device inside of the pool, swimming over to another guy. He told him what he had just found out and sighed.   
  
It seemed like every bodyguard around knew what had happened, their faces full of grief.   
  
"It's official.", the guy shared the news with Titus who just buried his face in his hands. His breathing laboured, the grief and anger fighting inside him. "Wallace whacked Bellamy and Finn."   
Next to Titus his wife began crying loudly, her face already puffed from earlier. "What's our options?", his henchman asked and Titus pressed his fist against his mouth. "What's your options?", he wondered out loud, only slightly making eye-contact with his wife. It was too much to see her suffer because of Wallace.   
  
"Kill them." His voice harsh, the anger slowly but surely coming to the surface. "When?" The sobbing of Titus' wife grew louder and so did Titus anger, with a loud "Tonight! Kill them all! Kill them all tonight."   
  
And with that his henchmen moved out of the vicinity, preparing for the night.   
  
The FBI had heard it all, in a small bouquet standing in the middle of Titus' table they had hidden a microphone, one which was very valuable right now. If not for that information the FBI would not have been able to dispatch their troops as quick as they did.   
  
It took another hour for Titus to calm down. After that he contacted one of his henchmen who closely worked with Wallace. He needed to find out where he could find him, preferably soon.   
  
When the phone call finally came in with the information he needed, Titus couldn't help but smile a little, right now his grief was overpowered for his sense of justice, he wanted Wallace dead for what he had done to his children.   
  
"Yeah, what?" His informant finally delivered the information he needed. "Yeah, Mr Cigliutti, the money exchangewith Dante Wallacewill occur on the top floor suite ofthe Stratosphere at exactly 7pm."   
  
______   
  
Back in the interrogation room Clarke was still telling her story to Anya. Meanwhile she had lit another cigarette and was glad that the calmness it evoked finally settled on her.   
  
Anya just scoffed at the information Clarke had just delivered. They were not true but Clarke couldn't know that.   
A small smirk graced her features, the first real emotion Clarke saw on her face, besides her ever apparent stoicism.   
  
"You know, we discovered the bodiesearly this morning." Anya made air quotes around the word bodies while she leaned smugly on her forearms.   
It wasn't hard to put two and two together. The FBI had set them up, all of them. The guys they had nabbed weren't dead.   
  
On their way to finally bust Wallace and Cigliutti they had made up a ruse. And all of them had fallen for it. The consequences were severe but it seemed like the FBI didn't care or at least hadn't at the time. All they wanted was to flush out Cigliutti in the money exchange.   
  
It probably wasn't so much of a big deal to lose some bounty hunters, they weren't worth anything to them, just some garbage that pretended to do justice in the world. Clarke leaned back in her chair, the night of the catastrophic evening vividly before her eyes. Lexa, Gustus, Raven and all their heavily soaked clothes, full of blood.   
  
_______   
  
The squad had finally reached their destination in Vegas. After a longer stop on the road, they had recharged their phones, had gotten something to eat and even took a break to freshen up a little.   
  
After that David had driven them over to the Stardust Hotel where they would need to check in and wait for the evening to come. As any good hotel in Vegas this one greeted the group with a casino full of gamblers.   
  
"Fuck, this shit's intense.", Ian mumbled over to Brian, "Ian, shut the fuck up, just do what they say." Brian had enough of all this chaos, his nose still hurt and so did the rest of his body. The accident had left its mark on him. He was glad they could still alive and not dead on the sidewalk. "I don't feel like getting killed today, alright?"   
  
Ian was about to rebut, to tell Brian that they should finally try to escape when Clarke approached them from behind and threw her arms around their shoulder. "We need you to book usa hotel suite." The guys looked at her with raised eyebrows. "What do you mean, with my money?", Ian asked, his voice slightly pitched. He wasn't the richest guy in the world, plus he didn't want to do Clarke any favours. "I want you to put it on your credit card.", Clarke said, ignoring their looks.   
  
Brian looked at Clarke, saw how serious she seemed. "Are you serious?OK, don't look at me that way." He held his hands up, indicating that he would give in and let Clarke walk them over to the reception.   
  
In a corner, sitting at a bar and nursing a whiskey, was Jaha. He had told Clarke to come here, had told her that he had come up with a plan but couldn't be there with them, it was safety measures. Clarke believed him, she had no reason not to, not in this moment where everything was still so incredibly fucked up.   
  
He fiddled his phone out of his pocket and called Wallace. After the second ring the call was answered. "This is Wallace.", he greeted and Jaha took a deep breath, grounding himself before he answered. "Mr. Wallace, the bounty hunter have just arrived. Where do you want to meet?"   
  
Wallace looked over to his lawyer who nodded at him. "Top of the World at the Stratosphere.", he proposed. "Is it safe?", Jaha wanted to know. He needed his bounty hunters to be safe, this job was already dangerous enough. He needed this whole deal to go over smoothly. "Yeah, it's completely secure."   
  
Jaha nodded, even though it couldn't be seen by Wallace. "We'll drop of the money in exactly one hour." He looked at his watch. "Should we say, 7 pm?"   
"Yeah, good."   
  
_______   
  
Clarke and the team had finally checked in, the room wasn't big and so the money was piled up in the bathroom, but all of them had found a space on the sofa and the bed in the room, waiting for the phone call that would seal the deal. "Oh, man, we are so fucked.", Gustus complained, staring at nothing else but the table in front of him.   
  
Clarke sat opposite of him, anxiously tipping the phone against her left hand. "Yeah, well, that guy said we were fucked either way.", she mumbled, more to herself than to anyone else. The room fell silent again, everyone just waited for this to be over. When the phone finally rang, everyone looked expectantly at Clarke.   
  
"Hello?", she answered and wasn't surprised to hear Jaha's voice. "Clarke, the money exchange will take place at Top of the World, Stratosphere. And I need you to get there right at 7pm.", he instructed, before making a pause. "I'm sorry it turned out like this. I won't forget this. Clarke."   
  
The blonde just sighed and nodded. This didn't help her at all. They were all fuck, whatever happened, and having a favour from Jaha wasn't worth shit. Anyway, that didn't make a difference now and Clarke was not one to complain.   
  
She assured Jaha they would be there and ended the phone call. "7pm, at the Top of the World.", she told her teammates before she heaved another sigh. "Afterwards the nightmare will be over.", she promised but she could see that none of their teammates believed her. It seemed like all of them knew that their fate was already determined. They could do nothing but follow the pointers they got but that didn't mean they would be alive at the end of today.   
  
The only person that had not accepting her fate was Raven. For her it was clear that the money was needed elsewhere, that those rich men didn't deserve it. So, she had come up with a plan, one that was only justified now that she felt her leg slowly becoming numb. It was only a matter of time until she couldn't stand on it anymore.   
  
Under the pretence of counting the money, Raven had locked herself in the bathroom. And she had indeed done it, counted the money, but she had also brought something else with her, something she had hidden in the bag of the RV and which she had told the other were weapons if they ever needed any today.   
  
In reality it was something else, still a weapon of some sort, but more the explosive kind. She had exchanged the C4 she had carried around with her, since the beginning of this case, with the money in the bags. Her plan was to go out with a bang, a huge one at that.   
  
A knock at the door interrupted all their thoughts. Clarke got up to open the door and was faced with the three sassy woman and Nathan, the ones that had been part of the coup. "Indra." Clarke greeted, opened the door and little wider and let them come into the room.   
  
Moments passed as everything got settled, before Clarke finally let out the question that had burned inside of her for so long. "What the fuck have you gotten us into?", she wanted to know and it seemed like Indra was ready to give answers but that probably wasn't why she was here.   
Clarke knew of only one reason and the prophecy came back to her mind.   
  
"Thelonious negotiated a finder's feefor $300,000.He fucked it up'cause he tried to take all of it.", Gustus scoffed next to Indra. He didn't believe that one bit. Jaha was too clever for such things, Gustus had seen it numerous times. "Bullshit, you set us up.", he blamed the fierce woman who didn't even look at him.   
  
"Clarke, I don't know how all of this happened, and if I could take it all back, I would." Indra's eyes were filled with tears, it was desperation Clarke could see in them while she paced the suite they were in. "Well, they're gonna kill usif we don't deliver all the money." It was a fact, all of them knew it, even Indra. She wasn't blind, she knew how dangerous this whole coup was but still, all she could think about was Gaia and Wells, her family. It was clear that she would do whatever necessary to safe them.   
  
"$300,000, and I need to collectthat fee right now.It'll pay for my baby's entire operation.Please." Clarke stopped in her tracks and looked at Indra. David's word came back to her mind, the fact that they would need to die to safe Gaia, that she would have a bright future and maybe change things in the future.   
  
For a moment Clarke wondered if she had gone crazy, if all of it was really happening or if she was already dead, in the middle of a desert, next to a huge RV. Maybe this wasn't real, maybe...   
Clarke sighed and walked over to the bathroom, hammering harshly against the door. "Raven, what the fuck are you doing in there?", when nobody answered, she knocks again forcefully. "Raven!" Suddenly the door was ripped open and Raven looked at Clarke, her eyes seemed watery, her skin sweaty. Clarke wasn't sure what was going on but it seemed obvious that Raven was on some sort of influence. "Wanker, cut the drama. I need 300k from one of the bags."   
  
Raven stared at Clarke for another few seconds, before the door was slammed shut and Clarke was left behind. The blonde was too shocked to do anything in this moment and before she had collected herself, the door was ripped open once again and Raven thrusted the money into her hands. A second later the door flew close once again.   
  
For a moment Clarke just stared at the bundle of money in her hand and shook her head. She had the feeling she was about to sign her death wish.   
With heavy feet she walked back to the group, watched them how they packed everything in bags. It was like an out of body experience, like her life was about to walk out of this room.   
  
When they had finally packed everything, Clarke walked them to the door. Indra was the only one who turned around once more. She looked at Clarke with a sad smile before she pulled the blonde in a hug. "I love you, Clarke.", she whispered and it took the blonde a moment to return the hug. "Thank you.", Indra mumbled into Clarke's hair, hugging her tightly. She knew what Clarke had just done for her and nothing compared to that.


	9. The showdown

Clarke's story was almost told, the last chapter about to happen. But something inside her wasn't willing to tell the story. It hurt too much to just think about it. About how Lexa was lying in her arms, blood everywhere, how Gustus voice echoed in her head cracking jokes while his body was riddled with bullets.   
  
This damn elevator of death. She remembered how much she had prayed in that moment, how clear everything felt, in the moment that Lexa's body almost seemed lifeless in her arms.   
She shuddered slightly and was only brought back to reality when Anya cleared her throat lightly.   
Clarke's body was still leaned over the table, her left forearm supporting her weight, while she held a cigarette in her right. "So, the Stratosphere Hotel...", Anya began, looking up at Clarke who just took another drag from her cigarette and started telling the last chapter.   
  
_______   
  
They left the hotel some minutes after Indra had been gone. Raven had finally left the bathroom, the money and the C4 hidden inside the bags. With the help of a bellboy they brought that bags down to the lobby and loaded it into a Taxi.   
  
Nobody realised that Raven was having eye-contact with someone else, a tall guy leaning against another Taxi. She nodded shortly at him before she heaved another back into the car. Fortunately for her, the drugs in her system let her forget about the fact that her leg was hurting like hell, it pumped Adrenaline through her system and she needed that right now. She had a plan.   
  
Once the supposed money was in the car, Clarke and the others got into the car. Only leaving Raven behind, the brunette turned around, her hand behind her bag and her contact walked over, grabbed the key and left as if nothing had happened.   
With a small satisfied smile, Raven finally got into the car and they drove off to the Stratosphere Hotel.   
  
The huge building appeared in front of them far too soon. None of them was ready for the upcoming deal, but they had no choice.   
Without any difficulties, considering they were expected, they were led into the building, went through several doors until they ended up in front of the security check.   
  
All of them put down their weapons and walked through without any disturbance. Behind them was Raven, still slowly pulling the money behind, successfully hiding the fact that she had started to limp.   
Once she was asked to put down any weapons, she just held up a remote and some tape, indicating that she had nothing else with her. Once the security guard was satisfied she walked through the gate, the money right behind her.   
  
Right after the security check they got into the elevator, all of them sandwiched together, unable to move. Luckily for Raven she had managed to snatch a spot in the corner, the rack of money bags obscuring the view of everyone. With small slow movements she tightly taped the remote into her hand, her finger softly lying on the on-off-switch.   
  
The 'Top of the World' was situated at the top level of the hotel, giving any visitors a spectacular view over Las Vegas. But it also meant that the trip with the elevator took longer than normally.   
Once they got out of the elevator they were greeted by Wallace and his henchmen. Most of them had all kind of weapons slung around their shoulder, casually holding them in front of their body. It was obvious that they were ready for whatever was about to happen.   
  
One wrong move and this would end badly. "Welcome to the Top of the World.", Wallace greeted them, his voice showing how confident he actually was. In his right hand he held a cigar, probably just to show them how superior he was to them. "It's a little out of the way, but, uh, very private.", he said with a low chuckle. It was dangerous.   
  
He looked at the group in front of him. His sight falling on Brian and Ian who nervously stood in front of him, avoiding eye-contact. "Where have I seen you two boys before?", the old man asked and Brian, ever the brave one, looked up from the floor to meet Wallace's eyes. "We're actors."   
  
Wallace raised an eyebrow at the two of them, surprise obvious in his face. "What the fuck are you doing here?", he wanted to know. "We're celebrity hostages.", Brian explained, seemingly proud of the fact that he was important enough to be a hostage. "Celebrity hostages?" Wallace parroted and looked over to Emerson who just shrugged at him. "Yeah. Apparently, people don't kill other people when celebrities are around. Brings too much attention."   
  
Wallace nodded thoughtful, that indeed, made sense. "I see." He looked over to one of his henchmen and nodded at him. "Well, I'd better have you escorted downstairs, then. You got lucky.", he graced them with a small smile and watched how his henchmen brought the actors back to one of the elevators. With a small swipe of a card it was activated and the two actors disappeared behind the metal doors. Only a loud scream could be heard through it.   
  
Wallace ignored that deliberately and looked back to the remaining group in the room. They seemed clever enough to know that Wallace had just threatened them. If the actors had been a safety measure, they surely now stood in the open without any protection.   
  
"And you're a...", he blew out the smoke of his cigar and looked at Clarke. "a bounty hunter?" Clarke didn't bow down, just looked him straight in the eye and nodded. "Yes, I am."   
Dante looked Clarke up and down. "Dangerous profession.", he said with a grin on his lips that definitely wasn't meant friendly. "Sometimes.", Clarke answered.   
  
He nodded, the grin vanishing slowly. "Could you... could you bea little bit more specific about that?"   
If the situation wouldn't be so dire Clarke would have raised an eyebrow at him, would have been more blunt and direct as she used to be. But right this moment there was no time for that. She had to be careful with her words, careful with what she was about to say. It could decide if they would live or die.   
  
"It can be dangerous when you don't know what to expect from a situation.When you have absolutely no ideawhat could possibly happen next." Emerson looked at Clarke, clearly impressed by her words. It seemed there was something coming up. He just wasn't sure what it was.   
  
In the meantime, while they were talking, two other groups where on the move. The FBI had taken the liberty to let Lincoln and Octavia board a helicopter, so they could oversee what would happen within the rooms of the hotel. They were currently circling the tower, maintaining eye-contact. Another round of FBI troops had entered the hotel by the back door and were heavily armed as well, climbing the stairs.   
  
Cigliutti on the other hand, had just stormed the hotel, weapons in hand his henchmen were following him closely. They passed Wallace's men who just pressed themselves against the wall, hoping to survive this encounter, and they did. Titus had no interest in killing them, all he wanted was to kill Wallace.   
  
Neither Clarke nor Wallace knew what was about to happen. Both of them were only interested in finalizing the deal. "The bags contain the 10 million,minus the $300,000 finder's feeyou negotiated with Jaha."   
  
Taking another drag from his cigar, Wallace raised an impressed eyebrow at Clarke, tilting his head to the side. "Hmm. Well, now, that's...that's what I call bold, Miss Griffin.But I'm impressed.I'm very impressed."   
  
Dante looked at Clarke for another second or two, before he nodded and looked over to his henchmen who were waiting for orders right behind him. "All right, gentlemen, let's make sure thatthose bags are packed with my money,and we'll let these bounty hunters go."   
  
The guys moved towards the bags only to be stopped by Raven's voice. "Your money's gone." She said, her voice trembling, not with fear but with passion. Clarke looked back at her, full of confusion. "What?", Dante asked and looked over to Raven for the first time since they had entered the room. The very same moment Dante's men cocked their guns and pointed them towards the group. "What are you talking about?" His face slightly contorted by anger. Raven slowly limped towards Dante, her hand hidden in her pocket. "It has been sent to help free Afghanistan." She took a few more steps closer to Dante who just backed off into the safety of his men. "Let us go.", Raven demanded, "What the fuck are you doing?", Dante asked, still full of disbelieve, and Raven finally pulled her hand out of her pocket and held up the remote taped to her hand.   
  
She pressed the on-off switch and the bomb inside of the bag started beeping loudly. "It's a bomb.", one of Dante's henchmen said and pulled around to point his gun at Raven. "Let us go or ...I'll blow this needle into outer space."   
  
Right this moment Cigliutti arrived at the scene. "Alright, drop the weapons.", one of his substitutes called out while a group of roughly 20 guys pointed their weapons towards Wallace and his henchmen.   
A few seconds later Titus emerged at the front, staring down Wallace. "You killed my sons."   
  
Wallace shook his head slightly. "I didn't kill your sons. I'm not in the people killing business." Titus stared at Dante while the atmosphere around them became even more tense.   
One second ago Raven had threatened to kill everyone with this bomb and now the mafia had taken over the situation. Had they arrived a few seconds earlier that would not have happened at all. But it was too late now.   
  
Titus pulled the gun out of it holster, pointed towards Dante and shot. Once, twice, three times before Dante fell to the floor, Emerson next to him. Titus then held up his guns and turned around, letting his henchmen take care of the rest.   
  
Suddenly the loud echoes of several weapons being shots echoed through the air. Several bullets found their end in Raven, standing in the middle of it all. "Raven!", Clarke called out loudly, hunching down to find some cover amidst it all.   
"Raven!", she called out again and reached out to grip her jacket. Slowly, and in cover, Clarke pulled Raven with her, the woman unable to move herself anymore.   
  
Lexa and Gustus had hidden behind the rack of C4, it might not have been the shrewdest move but they had no choice. There was nothing else they could hide behind.   
Once Clarke started dragging Raven behind her, Lexa and Gustus leaned down and took some of the guns from the dead men on the floor. Still using the rack for safety, they hid behind it and slowly pulled it towards the elevator. Occasionally they fired towards the others without really aiming at anyone. It wasn't about killing right this moment, they just wanted to get out safely. They had nothing to do with this, this was between Wallace and Cigliutti. Nothing else.   
  
Once they reached the hall of the elevator and barricaded themselves behind the door and the rack, still firing shots into the other room. Clarke pushed Raven behind the wall, leaning her body against the wall and robbed over to the elevator and pressed the button to call it.   
  
"Move back, for fuck's sake.", Clarke called over to Gustus and Lexa who turned around once the ding of the elevator let them know it had arrived. Both turned back to Clarke who just sat in front of the elevator, keeping the door open.   
  
And it could all have been so easy. They could have gotten into the elevator, unharmed. They could have brought Raven to the hospital, making sure that she was alright, even if Clarke knew that too many bullets had found their way into the flesh. Raven had already lost too much blood but Clarke still hoped, hoped that everything was going to be okay.   
  
But it wasn't.   
  
The moment Gustus and Lexa turned around to get into the elevator, the door to their right sprung open bringing in another round of Wallace men. They had no moment to hide, no moment to react. Taken totally off-guard a bullet found its way into Lexa's stomach and a few others into Gustus body while he almost threw himself in front of her. Both of them slipped to the floor. "No!", Clarke screamed loudly who had been safe inside of the elevator. She jumped up, blood pumping quickly through her veins. As if in a frenzy she grabbed both of the machine guns Gustus and Lexa had dropped and pointed them towards the men in the door.   
  
They seemed to be too shocked to react to any of it and even though Clarke had never aimed worse in her life, they all fell down seconds later, a puddle of blood forming around them.   
  
Streaks of tears ran down Clarke's cheeks the moment she finally lowered the guns.   
  
While Clarke had shot down all enemies she could see, Gustus and Lexa had heaved their bodies toward the elevator. As quickly as their body allowed they had made it into safety and pressed their bodies against the wall of the elevator. With the last of his strength Gustus reached out and pressed the down button and slumped down again.   
  
With a quick movement Clarke jumped into the elevator, the guns still held up high in case someone else made their way to the elevators. She would be damned if she let her friends get hurt even worse.   
She leaned over the edge of the lift and looked over at Raven. "Come on, Raven!", she called over to the brunette but it was clear the Raven was unable to move.   
  
Clarke was about to go over to get Raven when another round of shots was fired in their general direction. Clarke tried a few more times but whenever her head came into view shots were fired.   
  
She made eye-contact with Raven, felt how hot tears ran down her cheeks once more. "Raven...", she said quietly. "I make...", the brunette whispered, slowly and painfully holding up her hand with the remote. "I'll make everything okay."   
  
Clarke gulped, almost unable to look away, when the elevator dinged again and the heavy metal door shut close. Clarke didn't need to look over her shoulder to see Lexa pressing the button. She knew, she also knew Lexa had not done it out of pity. She knew when she saw a warrior, one that was ready to give it all for the safety of their people.   
  
Clarke couldn't see how Raven was surrounded by Wallace and Cigliutti's men alike, couldn't see how she looked up at them with a sad smile on her face. Her eyes wandered over to the display of the lift, watching how it slowly emerged down. She wanted to give the group as much of a head start as possible.   
  
Gustus was barely holding himself together in the lift. He couldn't see properly anymore, his vision blurred. He felt the wetness underneath his fingertips, felt the energy leaving his body. It didn't even help to look over to the display. It took too long and he did not feel strong enough.   
  
Lexa was lying next to him, her hand pressed against her stomach, her breathing laboured. Gustus hoped she would make it, for Clarke's sake, they deserved more than that.   
  
Clarke scooted over to Lexa, softly pulling her head into her lap, her hands running softly through her bloodied curls. "Don't you dare give up.", she demanded, her voice full of desperation. "I won't.", Lexa promised, a weak smile on her lips.   
"I'm not letting you die.", Clarke mumbled, holding onto Lexa desperately, she wasn't ready to let her go. Even if realistically she could do nothing. They were in a hotel, a bomb almost 100th level above them at the ready, there wasn't any ambulance waiting for them at the bottom. It seemed hopeless.   
  
She hated that Lexa was so important to her. She had once vowed never to investtoo much emotion into anyone. But she knew she had broken this vow a long time ago. "I love you.", Lexa whispered quietly, tears running down her cheeks. Clarke gulped once again, felt tears prickling in her eyes. "I love you.", she whispered back, "I love you, Lexa." She leaned in, kissed her softly, before she intertwined her fingers with Lexa.   
  
Gustus sat next to them, coughed loudly, the blood already on his lips. "It's a great day to die, don't you think?", he asked, a weak grin on his lips. Clarke just started crying even more.   
  
A rumble went through the building and Clarke didn't need to look up to know that Raven had pressed the button. They were 2 level above the ground floor but it still took them off-guard when the heat of the explosion creeped down the elevator, ripping the steel cable of it.   
  
She didn't know why but she just remembered the one time her mother had taken her to Las Vegas, she had been a little girl at the time, unable to understand the world. Now the words of her mother echoed through her head loudly.   
Las Vegas was indeed the most dangerous place on earth. It would have been absurd, maybe even funny if Clarke had the time to reflect on it but she couldn't.   
  
It was a 50/50 chance. Life or death. Heads, you live. Tails, you die. And her destiny was life.   
  
_________   
  
Back in the office Clarke had finally finished her story. Her whole body was still trembling from the emotions running through her body and it seemed like Anya felt it, too. She had intertwined her fingers in front of her face and contemplated what she had heard, what she could say to Clarke.   
  
A few moments passed in which Clarke just stared into nothingness. She thought of Lexa's smile, of her last words before everything had turned black. Clarke could not remember what had happened on impact. She couldn't say what happened to Gustus but she hoped, god did she hope, that he was still alive. She couldn't live without it bellowing laughter, without his awful jokes, his bear hugs.   
  
She couldn't live without him.   
And Lexa...   
  
Lexa.   
  
"Miss Griffin, I suggest you retire." Clarke looked over to Anya who nodded at her. It seemed to be respectful, Clarke could feel it but she couldn't reciprocate anything but a small nod. Retirement, huh?   
Clarke shook her head silently, listening to Anya leaving the room and stayed behind. It would take another few hours until she would be allowed to leave the premises. But at least the nightmare would finally find an end.


	10. Epilogue

In her time as a bounty hunter, Clarke had learned several valuable lessons. One of them though, stood above all others. She had learned there were three kinds of people in the world. The rich, the poor and everyone in between and those people needed as much help as anyone else.   
  
Jaha and Indra belonged to the third group. But were in desperate need of being part of the rich kind. If only to make sure that their grandchild would make it. There was nothing that mattered more for Indra. She had given everything that was possible to make sure that she could save Gaia.   
  
On their journey to get the money a lot had happened, arms had been cut off, innocent college children had almost been killed, lives had vanished into nothingness. There was no question that no life was worth more than the other but in the end, everyone just did what was best for their people. The ones that counted on them because they couldn't help themselves.   
  
"I'm doctor Walton.", a man in a white coat greeted the family of three. Behind them Nathan, Vera and Nygel had taken a seat. "Thelonious Jaha", Jaha introduced himself and pointed towards Wells. "This is Wells Jaha."   
  
Indra nodded and reached out her hand to shake the one of doctor Walton. "I'm his mother, Indra." The others, even though not remotely part of the family jumped up from their seats, eager to introduce themselves. "We're his cousins." The doctor raised an eyebrow at them but didn't question why they were here.   
  
"It seems that we have a few things we have to look at.", he said, a kind smile on his lips.   
  
The doctor brought them over to another floor and stopped in front of room with a huge window. Behind it Gaia was lying in a small bed, machines connected to her body.   
  
There was no way to tell for sure if Gaia would live, the therapy was very successful but that didn't mean it would work. Still, while Indra clung to Thelonious' hand and gave Wells a tight one-armed hug, she had the feeling it would finally work out in their favour.   
  
_______   
  
A few thousand miles away a post vehicle found its way to its destination. It had taken several weeks to transport the bags but it had been worth with. They had finally found their way to Afghanistan.   
  
Once the postman had unloaded the bags, a few older men made their way over to the bags. Looking up into the sky they send a prayer, unknowingly thanking Raven for her sacrifice. A few children had gathered around it, waiting for the contents of the bags being revealed.   
  
Full of reverence one of the men slowly pulled back the zipper of a bag, revealing several bundles of money. He looked over his shoulder towards the children before he met the eyes of the others. With a huge smile on his face he grabbed a handful of it and threw it into the air.   
  
The children broke out in laughter, running around, opening bags, grabbing the money and danced around. It wasn't much for the war, it wouldn't bring the whole country peace, even if Raven had hoped it would but it would definitely made life worthwhile. They would be able to eat, to get clothes, to have a life that didn't consist out of surviving. Because they all knew life was about more than just that.   
  
It was unbeknownst to them but the money had left behind a trail of blood. Many men had died to make this possible but in the end all Raven had wanted was for her people to have a better life. And for a small pocket in time they would, maybe enough to make Raven's death worthwhile.   
  
_______   
  
A few weeks had passed and it seemed like the calm had returned. Titus had not been arrested as he had fled the scene before any real connection could be made. The recordings of their calls not enough proof to convict him.   
  
The Stratosphere Hotel had closed down without further notice and had left behind a whirlwind of interviews with experts about as to why the shooting had happened. But in the end, nobody really cared, aside from the people that had lost their jobs or even worse their lives.   
  
Even Clarke had finally found her peace, not entirely, knowing that Gustus would look down at her from the afterlife, but she had finally started therapy, finally swore off the drugs that had clouded her mind for so long. It was a small step but at least she felt like moving forward.   
  
"Gus was our mentor, friend and above everything else a father to us. He had a way of making each one of us in the team feel like we were his favourite and maybe that was true.", Lexa's voice echoed through the graveyard, strong with an underlying sadness.   
  
Her eyes sought out Clarke who stood next to Indra, her blue eyes clouded by tears. Lexa felt the strong desire to walk over to Clarke and pull her in her arms to comfort her. But she couldn't, not yet.   
So instead she took a deep breath, overlooked the mourners, and breathed out audibly.   
  
"Gus taught us strong values and the importance of working together tightly as a team, showing tolerance towards one another, generosity and tolerance towards one another's weaknesses. Thank you for that, Gus. We wouldn't be here without you." Lexa pulled out Gustus' watch and held it up for a second, looking at it full of sorrow. She would give a lot to be with him again, to hear his laughter again, listen to his nagging when he found Lexa staring at Clarke once again but even more she would miss his advice, his way to handle Lexa like no one else did.   
  
"In peace may you leave the shore. In love may you find the next. Safe passage on your travels, old man...", Lexa's smile sad, her voice wavering slightly, "May we meet again."   
  
With a small flick of her wrist Lexa threw the watch into the grave and took a few steps to take a handful of ashes from the tray next to the grave. "Your fight is finally over, Gus.", she whispered before she threw her handful into the open grave.   
  
She hadn't realised Clarke had stepped up next to her until the very moment she felt their fingers touching. When she looked up she was faced with Clarke's watery eyes and a sad smile.   
Intertwining their fingers together, Clarke reached out to pick up a handful of ash herself and repeated the procedure Lexa had just done.   
  
"May we meet again."   
  
Letting out a heavy sigh, Clarke softly pulled Lexa with her, leaving the other mourners behind to say their final farewell to Gustus. A photo stood next to his tombstone, showing him with Lexa and Clarke in his arms, a toothy grin on display.   
  
"I miss him so much.", Clarke mumbled quietly next to Lexa, her head leaned against her shoulder, tears running down her face, her focus on the photograph. "I never thought this would be how it ends, you know, I liked to think that Gus would die of old age, in a retirement home." Lexa nodded solemnly. "Gus would have loved it there, hitting on all the beautiful ladies around, probably known as a Casanova in his last days.", Lexa joked but the smile that followed didn't reach her eyes.   
  
Still, it was a good enough effort. It had to suffice.   
  
For the next minutes the couple stood, almost motionless, in front of the grave, watched people come and go. Some of them offered their condolences to them, some put down flowers, others just whispered their goodbye's.   
  
"Clarke, Lexa.", Jaha approached them a little while later when most of the mourners were gone. For a long moment he stood next to them and stared at the grave in front of him. In his whole career he had never lost a bounty hunter to a case. Some had retired, others had died of sickness but Gustus...   
"Gustus will be dearly missed.", he said quietly, mulling over his next words in his head. "I take it, you won't continue working for me?"   
  
Clarke looked over to him and shook her head slowly. No, though Anya had suggested it, she would not retire, they had to continue Gustus legacy, remember him for what he was – a damn great bounty hunter.   
Shamefully she remembered what her first words to Gustus had been, how reckless she had been, not a care in the world.   
  
Over the year she had learned to care for a lot of things. For her mother, even if she wasn't the warmest person in the world, she was grateful for the fact that she had never given up on her. For Indra, the woman who had asked so much of her but had always had an open ear, supporting Clarke when necessary. Raven, her still companion when everything seemed to be too loud. Gustus, the father she wished she had had, the man that understood her even without words and Lexa. Selfless Lexa who only cared for her people, only wanting them safe.   
  
Clarke knew, if she had given the opportunity, she would have given her life for Gustus, even for Raven. Now, for the very first time, Clarke understood the meaning of family, of having someone to care for.   
  
The soft squeeze of her hand brought her back to reality. "Clarke." It seemed like Lexa had spoken to Jaha as he wasn't next to them anymore. Her soft gaze capturing Clarke's attention. "Let's go, Gustus would hate it if we waste any more time mourning him here."   
  
Clarke could see the sadness in her dark-green eyes, could see that she would need a lot of time to mourn Gustus properly. She had spent half of her life with him, he was the person she could go to whenever she needed some. Gustus had been the most trusted person in Lexa's life, her rock, her father figure, and now he was gone.   
  
For a second Clarke felt wrong in her mourning, felt like she couldn't compare to the grieve Lexa felt but then the brunette smiled at her, softly, carefully, and Clarke knew it wasn't about comparing their pain, it was about helping one another to deal with it as best as possible.   
  
"Let's go.", Clarke repeated and both of them left the graveyard behind. The only thing waiting for them in front of it was Gustus old convertible. It had no value anymore, apart from a sentimental one. Letting her fingers drag over the edges of the car Clarke walked around it. Gustus had always said he would never let anyone else drive his car, it was his only possession, not that he needed anything else.   
  
"Where are we going?", Clarke wanted to know while opening the car door. Lexa just looked over to her and shrugged. "Wherever the next job leads us." The smile on Lexa's lips reminded her much of Gustus' when he had been proud of them. It was warm and soft.   
  
Clarke looked up one last time, a soft smile on her lips. Their journey together was certainly over, unfortunately sooner than Clarke would have liked but life had its way with people. So, she sighed, wiped off her tears and got in the car. She had a new adventure ahead of her with Lexa by her side.


End file.
